LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


A  CHARACTER  SKETCH 


BY 


ROBERT  DICKINSON  SHEPPARD,  D.D. 

Pruf.  uf  American  and  English  History,  Northwestern  University 


'AITH    ANECDOTES,    CHARACTERISTICS    AND 
CHRONOLOGY 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 

H.  G.  CAMPBELL  PUBLISHING  CO. 

MILWAUKEE,  WIS. 


Copyright  1899, 
By  The  University  Association. 


Robert  Dickinson SkeppardDD 


@r 


IT  is  a  far  cry  from  a  Kentucky  cabin  to  the  White 
House  at  Washington,  from  the  estate  of  a  poor  white 
child  in  the  south  to  that  of  CI  ief  Magistrate  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  Yet  it  is  our  task  to  show 
how  that  distance  was  spanned  in  the  life  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  and  the  story  of  it  should  be  of  the  highest  in- 
terest to  every  American  youth. 

We  are  probably  not  sufficiently  removed  from  the 
times  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  estimate  him  in  his  full 
proportions.  The  greater  part  of  the  literature  that  has 
been  written  concerning  him,  that  is  not  absolutely 
ephemeral,  has  been  written  for  a  people  who  reverenced 
him,  and  who  would  brook  no  other  than  a  reverent  hand- 
ling of  the  object  of  their  devotion.  Such  jealousy,  how- 
ever, was  needless,  for  loving  hands  have  written  intel- 
ligently and  judicially  the  story  of  his  life,  and  of  the 
unfolding  of  his  character.  They  have  written  with  the 
ardor  of  personal  friendship  and  almost  in  the  heat  of  the 
exciting  days  when  Lincoln  stood  as  their  champion  and 
contended  for  the  National  ,  Union  to  which  they  were 
devoted. 

These   circumstances    are   not    favorable    to   the  ex- 

5 


6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

position  of  the  real  Lincoln.  And  yet  more  than  most 
of  the  great  men  of  history,  his  individnality  was  so  strik- 
ing, its  outlines  were  so  well  defined,  that  even  a  poor 
artist  can  trace  them,  and  in  his  maturer  years  his  action 
was  so  studied  and  deliberate  as  if  he  were  appealing  to 
the  solemn  verdict  of  future  generations — that  it  is  not 
easy  to  go  far  astray  in  our  judgments  concerning  him. 
Take  him  for  all  in  all,  he  furnishes  us  a  striking  exam- 
ple taken  from  our  own  times,  of  atypical  American  who 
was  born  in  poverty  and  reared  amid  unlikely  surround- 
ings and  influences,  but  who  made  the  most  of  his  slen- 
der opportunities  for  intellectual  culture,  kept  himself 
pure  amid  much  that  was  degrading,  and  step  by  step, 
attained  to  nobleness  of  character,  to  intellectual  strength, 
to  honor  and  station  among  those  who  knew  him  best 
and  finally,  to  tlie  highest  eminence  of  position  and  honor 
that  an  American  can  reach. 

In  his  career  he  epitomizes  a  half  century  of  the  most 
interesting  and  critical  conditions  of  our  national  life. 
And  the  progress  of  events  that  culminated  in  the  Civil 
War,  its  conduct,  and  the  work  of  reconstruction  that 
followed  it,  can  nowhere  be  studied  as  intelligently  as  in 
the  story  of  his  outlook  on  the  political  life  of  the  nation, 
of  his  political  affiliations,  and  his  active  participation  in 
the  settlement  of  the  great  questions  that  involved  the 
existence  and  prosperity  of  the  nation. 

We  shall  turn  first  to  his  ancestry  and  early  environ- 
ment. He  was  born  February  i2tli  in  the  year  1809,  in 
a  miserable  cabin  on  the  farm  of  Thomas  Lincoln,  or 
"Linkhorn,"'  as  he  was  sometimes  called,three  miles  from 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  7 

Hodgeiisville  in  the  present  county  of  LaRue  in  the  state 
of  Kentucky.  Of  his  ancestry  on  the  Lincoln  side,  little 
is  known  save  that  they  were  among  the  early  settlers  of 
Virginia  and  were  of  English  descent,  and  probably  were 
Quakers.  The  mother  of  Abraham  Lincoln  was  Nancy 
Hanks,  whose  ancestors  came  from  England  to  Virginia 
and  moved  on  to  Kentucky  with  the  Lincolns,  settling 
near  them  in  Mercer  County. 

It  was  while  learning  his  trade  as  a  carpenter  in  the 
shop  of  Joseph  Hanks,  the  uncle  of  Nancy  Hanks,  that 
Thomas  Lincoln  met  and  courted  the  mother  of  the  great 
president.  He  was  of  medium  stature,  standing  five 
feet-ten  in  his  shoes.  His  complexion  was  swarth}',  his 
hair  dark,  his  eyes  gray,  his  face  full  and  round,  his  nose 
prominent;  he  was  strong  and  sinewy;  he  was  peace  lov- 
ing but  brave  enough  to  fight  when  occasion  demanded, 
as  it  .often  did  in  those  rough  days  in  the  border  state  of 
Kentucky;  he  was  of  roving  disposition,  a  good  story  tel- 
ler, and  full  of  anecdote  picked  up  in  his  wanderings. 
In  politics  he  was  a  Jackson  Democrat,  and  in  religion 
"everything  by  turns  and  nothing  long. "  A  botch  car- 
penter by  trade,  he  soon  tired  of  that  and  turned  farmer, 
though  he  did  not  entirely  abandon  rough  carpentry,  and 
as  a  farmer  he  showed  his  inconstancy  b}^  frequent  mi- 
grations from  one  location  to  another. 

Nancy  Hanks  is  described  as  a  slender,  symmetrical, 
woman  of  medium  height,  with  dark  hair,  regular  feat- 
ures, and  sparkling  hazel  eyes.  Of  her  it  is  related,  as  an 
unusual  circumstance  in  the  illiteracy  of  the  time,  that 
she  possessed  the  rare  accomplishments  of  reading  and 


8  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

writing,  and  taught  her  husband  to  write  his  name.  She 
was  born  to  drudgery  and  her  natural  beauty  soon  gave 
place  to  the  faded  and  woe- begone  expression  that  pov- 
erty and  struggle  and  uncertainty  are  wont  to  write  on 
the  faces  and  forms  of  the  women  of  the  frontier.  The 
first  home  of  her  married  life  was  a  wretched  hovel  in 
one  of  the  alleys  of  Elizabethtown,  Kentucky,  where  her 
first  child  was  born,  and  a  little  later  she  occupied  with 
her  husband  the  miserable  cabin  on  Nolin  Creek  where, 
on  account  of  his  thriftlessness,  he  barely  met  the  neces- 
sities of  the  little  household. 

It  was  here  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  born.  The 
manger  at  Bethlehem  was  not  a  more  unlikely  birth- 
place. And  here  he  remained  until  he  was  four  years 
old,  and  then  the  elder  Lincoln  migrated  to  another  farm 
some  six  miles  from  Hodgensville,  on  Knob  Creek, whose 
clear  waters  flowed  at  length  into  the  Ohio,  twenty-four 
miles  below  Louisville.  This  new  move  that  might  have 
proved  advantageous — for  the  banks  of  the  creek  and  the 
vallcNS  of  the  region  gave  great  promise  of  fertility — 
was  like  Thomas  Lincoln's  other  experiences;  only  six 
acres  out  of  the  two  hundred  and  thirtv-eig-ht  that  made 
up  the  farm,  were  worked,  and  no  permanent  title  to  the 
land  was  acquired  by  him.  After  four  years  a  new  mi- 
gration began,  this  time  to  Indiana. 

During  these  years  of  Kentucky  life  young  Lincoln's 
development  went  on  with  none  of  the  modern  aids.  A 
few  clays  of  schooling  each  summer  at  the  hands  of 
Zachariah  Riney  and  Caleb  Hazel  were  all  the  opportu- 
nities   that  Kentucky    offered    him.      During    the  re- 


■^^J^ 


*■»« 


^      -»"• 


The  early  home  of  Lincoln  in  Elizabethtown,  Ky. 
From  Raymond's  "Life  of  Lincoln," 


lo  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

mainder  of  his  time  he  vegetated.  In  the  fall  of 
1816,  the  spirit  of  change  came  over  Thomas  Lin- 
coln once  more.  He  had  had  some  experience  as  a 
flat-boatman  on  two  trips  to  New  Orleans,  and  thought 
to  move  in  that  way.  He  used  his  skill  in  car- 
pentry for  the  construction  of  a  flat-boat,  converted 
his  personal  property  into  four  hundred  gallons  of 
whiskey,  and  started  with  his  tools  and  his  whiskey,  alone. 
He  was  ship-wrecked  on  the  raging  Ohio  but  righted  his 
boat,  rescued  most  of  his  whiskey  and  a  few  of  his  tools, 
and  floated  down  to  Thompson's  Ferry  two  and  a  half 
miles  west  of  Troy,  in  Ferry  Count}-,  Indiana.  Sixteen 
miles  distant  from  the  river,  he  found  a  place  that  he  re- 
garded a  promising  location.  Thence  he  started  back 
on  foot  for  his  wife  and  children,  and  on  borrow^ed  horses 
he  brought  the  few^  remaining  effects  of  his  family,  their 
clothing  and  bedding  and  the  small  stock  of  kitchen 
utensils. 

The  Lincoln  farm  was  situated  between  the  forks  of 
the  Bie  and  the  Little  Pigeon  Creeks  a  mile  and  a  half 
east  of  the  little  village  of  Gentryville,  in  a  small  well- 
wooded  region,  full  of  game.  There  he  built  a  log  cabin 
closed  on  three  sides  and  open  on  the  fourth.  The 
house  was  about  fourteen  feet  square  and  floorless.  Into 
this  comfortless  cabin,  with  few-  of  the  ordinary  arrange- 
ments for  warmth  or  covering,  exposed  to  all  the  winds 
that  blow,  for  it  was  on  a  hillock  and  built  of  poles,  he 
conducted  his  little  family.  The  place  was  a  solitude. 
No  road  approached  it  save  the  trail  that  Lincoln  had 
blazed  through   the  woods.      For  a  whole  year  they  en- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


ir 


dured  the  discomforts  of  this  home  in  the  woods,  while 
some  ground  was  being  cleared  and'a  little  croj)  planted. 
Some  relatives  followed  them  from  Kentucky  the  next 
year,  and  among 
them,  Dennis 
Hanks,  the  young 
cousin  of  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

In  1817  a  new 
log  house  was 
reared  by  Thom- 
as Lincoln  of  un- 
hewed  timbers  and 
without  floor,  door 
or  windows.  Sev- 
en or  eight  older 
settlers  had  pre- 
ceded them  to  this 
region  and  soon 
a  tide  of  emigra- 
tion poured  in, 
sparsely  peopling  the  waste  places  of  the  new  state  of 
Indiana.  The  nearest  hand-mill  to  Thomas  Lincoln  was 
ten  miles  away,  whither  Abraham  carried  the  grist.  Of 
schooling  there  was  little  more  than  in  Kentucky,  and 
that  of  a  very  simple  kind.  For  two  years  Thomas  Lin- 
coln went  the  even  tenor  of  his  way,  raising  a  little  corn, 
shooting  a  little  game,  failing  to  provide  systematically 
or  with  any  solicitude  for  the  needs  of  his  family.  No 
furniture  was  in  the  house  save  the  roughest — three-legged 


Dennis  Hanks. 


12  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

stools  for  chairs,  a  log  with  legs  on  it  for  a  table,  bed- 
steads made  of  poles  fastened  at  one  end  to  the  wall  and 
resting  on  forked  sticks,  driven  into  the  earthen  floor  at 
the  other  end.  On  these,  boards  were  laid,  while  leaves 
and  old  clothing  served  for  the  bed.  They  ate  from  a 
few  pewter  dishes,  withont  knives  or  forks.  A  dutch  oven 
and  a  skillet,  were  the  sole  utensils  of  their  cabin,  A 
bed-room  in  the  loft,  to  which  he  climbed  on  pins  driven 
in  the  wall,  was  the  nightly  roost  of  the  future  president. 

Now  the  milk  sickness  appeared,  and  Thomas  Lin- 
coln's carpentry  was  employed  in  building  rough  coffins 
for  the  dying  settlers.  He  cut  out  the  timber  from  logs 
with  his  whip-saw  and  made  rough  boxes  for  a  number 
of  his  friends.  Nancy  Lincoln  was  stricken.  There  was 
not  a  physician  witJiin  thirty  miles,  and  no  money  to  pay 
him  should  he  come.  Without  a  hand  to  relieve  her,  the 
poor  jaded  woman,  the  mother  of  the  great  president, 
dropped  away  on  the  5tli  of  October,  1818,  and  was 
buried  without  ceremony  in  an  unmarked  grave.  She 
had  given  birth  to  a  man-child  on  whom  time  should  set 
the  seal  of  greatness.  His  sole  apparent  inheritance  from 
her,  however,  seems  to  have  been  the  tinge  of  melancholy 
that  often  clouded  his  life.  In  his  observations  upon 
the  making  of  his  character  he  has  little  or  nothing  to 
say  of  his  own  mother.  The  early  years  of  his  life  were 
years  of  neglect.  He  grew  up  in  deprivation,  ill-fed,  ill- 
clothed,  to  develop  alone  in  the  sunshine  and  in  the 
forest  the  nature  that  was  in  him. 

But  a  new  influence  was  soon  imported  into  the  Lin- 
coln   home.        After  thirteen    months    of    widowhood, 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  13 

Thomas  Lincoln  made  a  journey  to  Kentucky,  and 
brought  home  with  him  a  new  wife,  whom  he  had  known 
and  loved  many  years  before  as  Sally  Bush,  a  woman  of 
"great  energy  and  good  sense,  very  neat  and  tidy  in  her 
person  and  manners,  and  who  knew  how  to  manage 
children."  She  brought  with  her  from  her  Kentucky 
home  a  store  of  luxuries  and  comforts  that  the  Indiana 
cabin  had  never  known.  It  took  a  four-horse  team  to 
move  her  effects,  and  at  once  she  demanded  that  the 
floorless,  windowless  and  doorless  cabin  should  be  made 
habitable.  Warm  beds  were  for  the  first  time  provided 
for  the  children.  She  took  off- their  rags  and  clothed 
them  from  her  own  stores;  she  washed  them  and  treated 
them  with  motherly  tenderness,  and  to  use  her  own  lan- 
guage, she  made  them  look  a  little  more  human. 

Her  heart  went  out  at  once  to  young  Abe  and  all  was 
changed  for  him.  She  discovered  possibilities  in  him 
and  set  about  his  training,  gratified,  loved  and  directed 
him,  and  won  his  heart.  She  was  the  mother  whom  he 
describes  as  his"saintly  mother,hisangelofa  mother  who 
first  made  him  feel  like  a  human  being"  — and  took  him 
out  of  the  rut  of  degradation  and  neglect  and  shiftless- 
ness  that,  if  long  continued,  might  have  controlled  his 
destiny.  She  insisted  that  he  should  be  sent  to  school 
as  soon  as  there  was  a  school  to  go  to;  he  had  already  ac- 
quired a  little  reading  and  writing  and  was  quick  in  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge. 

In  the  rude  school  house  at  Little  Pigeon  Creek  where 
Hazel  Dorsey  presided,  Abraham  attended  in  the  winter 
of   181 9,   and   quickly    became  the   best  speller  in  the 


14  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

school.  In  the  winter  of  1822  and  '23  he  attended  An- 
drew Crawford's  school  in  the  same  place,  where  manners 
as  well  as  spelling,  were  a  part  of  the  curriculum.  He 
was  now  a  lanky  lad  of  fifteen,  and  rapidly  rising  to  his 
full  stature  of  six  feet-four.  He  was  not  a  beauty  with 
his  big  feet  and  hands,  his  shrivelled  and  yellow  skin, 
and  his  costume  of  low  shoes,  and  buckskin  breeches  too 
short  by  several  inches, his  linsey-woolsey  shirt  and  coon- 
skin  cap;  but  he  was  good-humored  and  gallant,  popu- 
lar with  the  boys  and  girls,  and  a  leader. 

His  last  schooling  was  in  1826,  at  a  school  four  and  a 
half  miles  from  his  home,  kept  by  Mr.  Swaney.  By  this 
time  he  ^ad  acquired  all  the  knowledge  that  the  poor 
masters  of  that  frontier  region  could  impart, henceforth  he 
must  supervise  his  own  education,  as  the  family  were  too 
poor  to  spare  him  if  opportunities  for  learning  had  pre- 
sented themselves.  He  must  work  now  in  the  shop  or 
on  the  farm,  or  as  a  hired  boy  among  the  neighbors. 
One  of  his  employers  tells  us  that  he  used  to  get  very 
angry  with  him,  he  was  alwa}S  reading  or  thinking 
when  he  got  a  chance,  and  would  talk  and  crack  jokes 
half  the  time.  After  the  days  work  was  over,  by  the 
light  of  the  fire,  he  would  sit  and  cipher  on  the  wooden 
fire  shovel.  Any  book  that  fell  in  his  way  was  eagerly 
devoured,  and  its  striking  passages  were  written  down 
and  preserved.  "Aesops  Fables"  improved  his  native 
art  of  pungent  story  telling,  "Robinson  Crusoe,"  Bun- 
yan's  "Pilgrim's  Progress"  and  the  Bible  were  eagerly 
read  by  him,  as  were  Weem's  "Washington"  and  a  his- 
torv  of  the  United  States.     These  few  books  enriched 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  15 

his  mind  and  laid  the  basis  of  his  straight-forward,  hicid 
literary  style.  The  Revised  Statutes  of  Indiana,  that 
conld  not  be  I'oaned  from  the  office  of  the  constable,  drew 
him  thither  like  a  magnet,  and  became  the  basis  of  his 
legal  lore. 

At  home,  he  was  the  soul  of  kindn-ess,  instantly  ready 
for  kindly  service,  full  of  his  jokes  and  stories.  His 
father  and  his  cousin  were  storytellers  and  it  was  often  a 
matter  of  friendly  rivalry  which  could  out-do  the  other. 
That  talent,  thus  cultivated,  was  one  of  the  sources  of  his 
mastery  of  men.  He  had  a  powerful  memory  and  would 
often  repeat  to  his  comrades  long  passages  from  the  books 
he  had  read,  or  regale  them  with  parts  of  the  Sunday 
sermon  with  such  perfect  mimicry  that  the  tones  and 
gestures  of  the  rude  preachers  of  that  day  were  vividly 
reproduced.  Even  in  the  harvest  field,  he  was  wont  to 
take  the  stump  and  sadly  interfere  with  the  labor  of  the 
day  by  discoursing  to  the  harvest  hands,  and  more  than 
once  his  father  had  to  break  up  this  diversion  with  se- 
verity. He  had  the  instincts  of  the  politician  and  the 
orator.  He  could  please  and  divert  men,  and  these  rude 
early  opportunities  developed  in  him  the  consciousness 
of  his  power  that  should  one  day  become  so  masterful. 

His  fondness  for  the  society  of  his  fellows  was  very 
marked.  He  could  withdraw  himself  utterly  from  men 
over  a  book,  but  his  tastes  were  strong  to  be  among  men. 
All  the  popular  gatherings  where  men  assembled  were 
eagerly  sought  out  by  him;  corn  shuckings,  log  rollings, 
shooting  matches,  weddings,  had  a  strong  fascination  for 
him.     He  enjoyed  the  sport  and  was  one  of  the  foremost 


i6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

to  make  it.  In  all  rustic  sports  lie  was  at  home.  His 
strength  was  phenomenal,  and  as  a  wrestler  he  seldom 
found  his  match. 

From  the  time  he  left  Crawford's  school  he  was  using 
all  his  faculties  daih'  arid  learning  all  that  the  rude  world 
about  him  had  to  teach  him.  Dennis  Hanks  tells  us  of 
the  educational  processes  of  the  time,  "We  learned  by 
sight,  scent  and  hearing.  We  heard  all  that  was  said, 
and  talked  over  and  over  the  questions  heard,  wore  them 
slick,  greasy  and  threadbare,  went  to  political  and  other 
speeches  and  gatherings  as  you  do  now.  We  would 
hear  all  sides  and  opinions,  talk  them  over,  discuss  them, 
agreeing  or  disagreeing.  He  preached,  made  speeches, 
read  for  us,  explained  to  us,  etc.  He  attended  trials,  went 
to  court  always,  read  the  Revised  Statutes  of  Indiana, 
dated  1824,  heard  law  speeches  and  listened  to  law  trials. 
He  was  always  reading,  scribbling,  writing  poetry,  and 
the  like.  To  Gentryville,  about  one  mile  west  of  Thomas 
Lincoln's  farm,  Lincoln  would  go  and  tell  his  jokes  and 
stories,  and  was  so  odd,  original,  humorous  and  witty, 
that  all  the  people  in  town  would  gather  round  him  and 
he  would  keep  them  there  till  mid-night.  He  was  a  good 
talker,  a  good  reader,  and  a  kind  of  news-boy." 

Thus  he  absorbed  all  the  intellectual  life  that  was 
astir,  and  used  his  powers  as  he  had  occasion,  observing 
public  business,  watching  the  methods  of  the  attorneys 
at  the  bar  and  kindling  with  their  eloquence.  Once  the 
awkward  boy  attempted  to  compliment  an  attorney  for 
his  great  effort,  and  years  afterward  he  met  him  ai:d  re- 
called the  circumstance,  telling  him  that  up  to  that  time 


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i8  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

it  was  the  best  speech  he  had  ever  heard,  and  of  his  feel- 
ing that  if  ever  he  conld  make  such  a  speech  as  that  his 
soul  would  be  satisfied.  High  aspiration  was  evidently 
stirring  in  him  then,  and  more  than  once,  when  twitted 
with  his  fooling,  as  his  story  telling  and  pranks  were 
called,  and  asked  what  would  ever  became  of  him,  he  was 
wont  to  answer  that  he  was  going  to  be  President  of  the 
United  States.  In  the  rude  circles  in  which  he  moved, 
his-power  of  instructing,  entertaining  and  leading  was 
recognized.  It  was  a  prophecy  to  him  of  leadership  in 
a  larger  sphere. 

In  1 828,  he  made  his  first  trip  to  New  Orleans  as  a  flat- 
boatman  at  eight  dollars  a  month.  The  trip  was  full  of 
adventure,  and  attended  with  some  danger,  but  it  was  a 
profitable  one  for  his  employer,  and  one  of  enlargement 
of  mind  for  the  employed.  From  that  time  till  1830, 
when  he -became  of  age,  he  worked  among  the  neighbors 
or  for  his  father.  And  then  it  was  determined  to  emi- 
giate  to  Illinois.  There,  at  a  point  ten  miles  west  of  De- 
catur, the  Ivincolns  settled,  and  Abraham's  last  filial  act 
before  his  majority  was  to  split  rails  for  the  fencing  of 
the  ploughed  land  of  the  new  homestead.  Then  he  was 
free  and  the  home  ties  were  sundered,  though  his  love 
for  his  step-mother  was  often  manifested  in  later  years  by 
frequent  gifts  of  money  and  frequent  visits. 

He  took  odd  jobs  in  the  country  round  and  the  pay 
was  all  his  own.  In  1831,  he  went  to  New  Orleans  on  a 
flat-boat  which  he  helped  to  build.  The  boat  was 
launched  on  the  Sangamon,  stranded  on  a  dam,  and  re- 
lieved by  Lincoln's  ingenuity,  and  started  again  on  a  sue- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  19 

cessfiil  voyage,  laden  with  pork,  hogs  and  corn.  It  was 
on  this  trip  that  his  reflective  mind  evolved  an  invention 
for  helping  flat-boats  over  snags  and  shoals.  The  inven- 
tion was  patented,  but  like  many  another  patent,  failed 
to  enrich  the  owner.  It  was  on  this  trip  that  Lincoln 
observed  for  the  first  time  some  of  the  abominations  of 
the  slave  trade  in  the  City  of  New  Orleans.  It  depressed 
him  and  drew  from  him  the  emphatic,  almost  prophetic 
statement,  "If  I  ever  get  a  chance  to  hit  slavery,  rU'hit 
it  hard.'' 

He  found  his  way  back  to  New  Salem  where  he  kept 
store  for  the  same  employer  that  sent  him  to  New  Orleans. 
There  he  won  his  way  to  consideration  by  his  genial  ways, 
his  gift  of  story  telling,  and  his  strength  and  skill  in 
wrestling.  There,  too,  he  fonnd  an  English  grammar 
and  mastered  it  by  the  light  of  pine  shavings,in  the  long 
evening  hours. 

In  1832,  the  Black  Hawk  War  broke  out.  Lincoln  en- 
listed, and  though  without  military  experience,  his  pop- 
ularity won  him  the  captaincy  of  his  company  by  popu- 
lar election.  His  career  as  an  officer  was  not  a  brilliant 
one.  His  command  was  an  unsoldierly  company  of 
American  citizens  who  respected  their  captain,  but  who 
were  unwilling  to  subject  themselves  to  very  strict  disci- 
pline. They  did  no  fighting  and  were  discharged  from 
service  after  a  brief  campaign,  and  Lincoln  re-enlisted  as 
a  private  in  the  Independent  Spy  Company.  He  was 
wont  afterwards  to  excite  much  amusement  by  his  stories 
of  this  bloodless  war.  Yet  it  was  a  school  to  him  that 
revealed  his  relations  to  his  country  and  helped  to  fit  him 


20 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


for  the  great  duties  of  Commander  in-Chief  in  the  War 
of  the  RebelHon. 

Returning  to  New  Salem  after  the   war,   his  friends 
urged  him,  in  view  of  his  popularity  in  the  recent  war. 


Lincoln's  Pioneer  House  on  the  Sangamon  River. 
Built  and  O.'cupied  by  Himself. 

to  become  a  candidate  for  the  State  Legislature.  His  ap- 
pearance in  debate,  and  the  favorable  impression  he  made, 
settled  the  question  of  his  candidacy  for  his  friends.  He 
felt  that  an  election  was  an  impossibility  for  him  at  that 
time,  but  he  undertook  the  canvass.  It  was  the  custom 
then  for  every  candidate  to  stand  on  his  own  merits  with- 
out the  aid  of  a  nominating  convention,     Mr,  Lincoln  at 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  2! 

this  tiir.e  was  nominally  a  Jackson  Democrat,  though 
some  of  his  statements  in  his  first  campaign  for  office  re- 
sembled very  closely  Whig  utterances,  and  he  will  be 
found  speedily  to  be  on  that  side. 

He  issued  a  manifesto  to  the  people  of  Sangamon 
County  on  the  question  of  local  improvements,  propos- 
ing the  improvement  of  the  Sangamon  River.  He  an- 
nounced himself  in  favor  of  usury  laws  which  would  limit 
the  rate  of  interest  to  be  paid  in  the  state.  He  was  in  fa- 
vor of  education, and  of  the  enactment  of  sundry  laws  that 
would  benefit  the  farming  community  in  which  he  lived. 
His  manifesto  was  that  of  a  crude  and  immature  states- 
man— or  better,  perhaps,  of  a  young  politician,  seeking 
to  adjust  himself  to  the  popular  opinions  about  him  and 
to  reach  public  office  thereby.  He  was  defeated  at  the 
election,  but  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing, that  the 
people  who  knew  him  best  gave  him  their  votes.  The 
canvass,  however,  gave  him  a  wider  acquaintance  with 
the  people  of  the  district  and  established  him  in  their 
eyes  as  a  young  man  of  considerable  promise. 

In  default  of  a  political  opening,  the  question  of  his 
future  career  pressed  upon  him.  He  could  earn  a  poor 
livelihood  with  his  brawny  arms,  but  to  this  he  was  in- 
disposed, feeling,  as  he  did,  that  there  was  a  larger  des- 
tiny before  him  than  of  mere  manual  labor.  He  tried 
clerking  in  a  store,  then  merchandising  on  credit,  which 
last  experience  ended  disastrously  and  left  him  a  burden 
of  debt.  Then  he  began  the  study  of  law,  with  borrowed 
books.  He  put  his  new  knowledge  into  practice  by  writ- 
ing deeds,  contracts,  notes  and  other  legal  papers  for  his 


22  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

neighbors,  following  prescribed  forms,  and  conducting 
small  cases  in  justice's  courts  without  remuneration. 
This  was  his  law  school,  self-conducted.  Volumes  on  sci- 
ence were  at  the  same  time  eagerly  devoured  by  him,  and 
the  few  newspapers  on  which  he  could  lay  hands  were 
the  sources  of  his  political  information.  Burns  and 
Shakespeare  were  his  especial  delight. 

To  pay  his  vv^ay,  he  won  the  good  opinion  of  the  sur- 
veyor of  Sangamon  County,  who  appointed  him  dep- 
uty, and  gave  him  a  chance  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of 
surveying,  in  which  he  became  an  expert.  He  was  called 
hither  and  yon  about  the  county  as  a  surveyor,  and  was 
made  arbiter  in  disputes  on  lines  and  corners.  Best  of 
all,  he  earned  a  good  living  and  made  many  friends  for 
the  future. 

From  1833  to  1836,  he  was  postmaster  of  New  Salem, 
as  a  Jackson  apj^ointee  on  the  score  of  right  opinions. 
The  emoluments  of  the  position  were  not  burdensome. 
He  kept  his  ofiice  in  his  hat. 

In  1834,  he  was  again  a  candidate  for  the  Legislature. 
This  time  he  leaned  to  the  Whig  party.  It  was  during 
this  year  that  his  personal  effects,  including  his  survey- 
ing instruments,  were  sold  iinder  the  hammer  by  the 
sheriff  to  satisfy  a  judgment  against  him  on  account  of 
his  unsuccessful  career  as  a  merchant.  But  warm  per- 
sonal friendship  inter\'ened  to  save  his  property  and  keep 
him  in  courage  for  the  work  of  his  life. 

The  camipaign  of  1834  was  personally  conducted,  as 
was  that  of  1832.  In  the  harA'est  field,  at  the  grocery  or 
on  the  highway,  wherever  he   could  find  men  to  listen, 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  23 

he  interested  them  in  his  cause  and  his  personality, 
chiefly  the  latter.  Where  he  was  known  he  was  wel- 
comed, and  where  he  found  it  necessary  to  make  himself 
known,  his  auditors  soon  made  the  discovery  that  he 
belonged  to  the  singed  cat  variety.  With  his  calico 
shirt,  short  trousers,  rough  brogans,  and  straw  hat  with- 
out a  band,  he  raised  a  laugh  at  his  appearance  that  was 
soon  turned  to  applause  at  his  knowledge  and  his  skill 
in  presenting  it.  He  headed  the  poll  on  election  day, 
and  appreciating  the  fact  that  a  new  outfit  was  necessary 
to  comport  with  his  dignity  as  a  legislator,  he  borrowed 
two  hundred  dollars  from  Coleman  Smoot,  an  admirer 
who  had  never  seen  him,  and  got  himself  up  in  the  best 
clothes  he  had  ever  worn.  The  loan  was  scrupulously 
repaid.  The  time  up  to  the  session  of  the  Legislature 
was  spent  in  preparation  for  his  new  responsibilities,  in 
reading  and  writing. 

He  had  enough  of  his  two  hundred  dollars  remaining 
to  pay  his  passage  on  the  stage  coach  to  the  scene  of  the 
Legislature  at  Vandalia.  That  body  was  overwhelming- 
ly Democratic  in  its  political  complexion,  and  set  the 
pace  for  Illinois  of  that  class  of  legislation  so  common  in 
new  countries:  the  creation  of  public  debt  and  the 
starting  of  great  and  ill-considered  public  improvements, 
and  the  licensing  of  banks  with  great  privileges,  and 
practically  no  guarantees,  a  class  of  legislation  that 
brought  on  the  financial  collapse  of  1837.  The  legisla- 
ture represented  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the  people 
and  accomplished  their  behests.  All  were  crazed  with 
the  spirit  of  speculation,  all  were  similarly  responsible, 


24 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


and  all  suffered  in  the  same  general  consequences.  Mr. 
Lincoln  swam  with  the  stream,  voted  for  all  the  wild-cat 
measures  which,  according  to  the  best  wisdom  of  the 
time,  were  essential  to  the  prosperity  of  the  state.     He 

was  a  silent 
member,  how- 
ever, at  this  ses- 
sion of  the  Leg- 
islature, though 
he  served  on 
the  committee 
on  Public  Ac- 
counts and  Ex- 
penditures. 

It  was  at  this 
session  of  the 
legislature  that 
he  met  Stephen 
A.  Douglas, w4th 
whose  later  ca- 
reer his  own 
was  destined  to 
be  so  closely  in- 
terwoven, and 
whom  at  his  first  meeting  he  characterized  as  the  "least 
man  he  ever  saw."  In  time  he  readily  accorded  him  the 
title  of  "Tlie  Little  Giant,"  with  whose  powers  he,  only, 
seemed  able  to  cope.  This  legislature  was  beset,  as  lat- 
er legislatures  of  Illinois  have  been,  by  a  corrupt  and 
persistent   body  of   so-called   log   rollers,   who  w^ere  on 


Stephen  A.  Douglas. 
Born  1813.     Died  1861 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  25 

hand  to  push  their  schemes  by  persuasion  and  corrupt- 
ion. But  no  taint  attached  to  young  Lincohi,  who,  if 
he  were  carried  away  like  the  other  legislators  of  the 
time,  by  schemes  of  artificial  prosperity,  was  beyond  the 
reach  of  bribery. 

In  1S36,  he  was  again  a  candidate  for  the  legislature, 
self-nominated,  for  this  was  before  the  age  of  caucuses 
and  conventions.  In  the  Journal  of  New  Salem  he  an- 
nounces his  platform.  He  favors  extending  to  all  whites 
who  pav  taxes  or  bear  arms  (not  excluding  women)  the 
right  of  suffrage.  If  elected,  he  should  consider  the 
whole  people  of  the  district  as  his  constituents,  regard- 
less of  the  manner  of  their  voting,  and  while  acting  as 
their  representative  lie  would  be  governed  by  their  will 
on  all  subjects  on  which  they  should  make  known  their 
will,  and  on  other  subjects  he  would  follow  his  own 
judgment  as  to  what  would  advance  their  interests.  He 
further  announced  that  lie  was  in  favor  of  distributing 
the  proceeds  of  tlie  sales  of  piiblic  lands  to  the  several 
states,  to  enable  each  state  in  common  with  others,  to 
dig  canals  and  construct  railroads  without  borrowing 
money  and  paying  the  interest  on  it.  On  the  question 
of  national  politics,  he  announced  his  adhesion  to  the 
standard  bearer  of  the  Whigs. 

For  two  months  the  campaign  was  conducted  in  the 
rough  and  ready  manner  peculiar  to  those  times.  Hot 
words  were  bandied,  personalities  were  indulged  in,  pis- 
tols were  frequently  drawn,  and  the  personal  prowess  of 
the  candidate  was  one  of  his  strong  claims  to  the  respect 
of  a  rough  constituency.     At  no  point  was  Lincoln  lack- 


26  ABRAHAAl  LINXOLX. 

ing  in  his  knowledge  of  his  audiences.  They  had  had 
demonstrations  of  his  physical  prowess.  Popular  re- 
port had  credited  him  with  fearlessness,  and  his  plain 
strong  reasoning,  his  humor  and  skillful  repartee  did 
the  rest. 

It  was  the  custom  for  political  antagonists  to  address 
the  same  audiences,  or  at  least  for  both  sides  to  eet  a 
hearing  at  the  same  time  and  place.  It  was  during  this 
campaign  that  Geo.  Forquer,  who  had  been  a  Whig  in 
the  legislature  of  1834,  and  had  changed  his  views  on 
being  appointed  registrar  of  the  Land  Office,  presumed 
to  call  Lincoln  to  account.  Forquer  had  aroused  much 
attention  as  a  political  turn-coat,  and  likewise  by  his 
sudden  prosperity  in  being  able  to  build  the  finest  house 
in  Springfield,  on  which  he  set  up  the  only  lightning 
rod  of  which  the  region  could  boast.  He  listened  to 
Lincoln's  speech  in  defense  of  the  principles  that  he  had 
recently  repudiated,  and  when  he  had  finished  he  arose 
to  answer,  with  a  fine  assumption  of  superiority,  saying 
that  the  young  man  would  have  to  be  taken  down,  and 
he  was  sorry  that  the  task  devolved  upon  him.  He  there- 
upon proceeded  to  take  him  down  in  a  strong  Democratic 
speech.  When  he  had  concluded  ]\Ir.  Lincoln  replied  to 
his  arguments,  and  then  alluded  to  Mr.  Forquer's  re- 
mark that  the  young  man  must  be  taken  down.  Turn- 
ing to  his  audience,  he  said: 

"It  is  for  you  to  say  whether  I  am  down  or  up.  The 
gentleman  has  alluded  to  my  being  a  young  man.  I  am 
older  in  3'ears  than  I  am  in  the  tricks  and  trades  of  poli- 
ticians.    I  desire  to  live  and  I  desire  place  and  distinct- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  27 

ion  as  a  politician,  but  I  would  rather  die  now  than,  like 
this  gentleman,  live  to  see  the  day  that  I  would  have  to 
erect  a  lightning  rod  to  protect  a  guilty  conscience  from 
an  offended  God." 

Another  Democratic  oracor  met  his  Waterloo  in  an  en- 
gagement with  Lincoln  in  the  same  campaign.  Dick 
Taylor  was  severely  Democratic  in  theory,  denouncing 
the  Whig  aristocracy  and  making  much  of  his  sympathy 
with  the  hard-handed  toiling  masses^  but  in  practice  he 
adorned  himself  with  splendid  apparel,  and  shone  con- 
^icuously  with  ruffled  shirt,  silk  vest,  and  an  impressive 
watch  chain.  On  one  occasion  when  Taylor  was  parad- 
ing his  democracy  and  denouncing  the  aristocratic  Whigs, 
Lincoln  edged  up  to  the  platform,  and  gave  a  jerk  to 
Taylor's  vest,  that  exposed  his  ruffled  shirt,  his  gold 
watch  and  chain  and  pendant  jewelry.  It  was  a  move- 
ment that  took  all  the  wind  out  of  Taylor's  sails  and 
hardl}-  needed  the  speech  which  Mr.  Lamon  credits  to 
this  occasion,  which  has  so  much  of  personal  interest  in 
it,  that  we  repeat  it. 

"While  Taylor  was  making  his  charges  against  the 
Whigs  over  the  country,  riding  in  fine  carriages,  wearing 
ruffled  shirts,  kid  gloves,  massive  gold  watch  chain  with 
large  gold  seals,  and  flourishing  a  heavy  gold-headed 
cane,  I  was  a  poor  boy  hired  on  a  flat-boat  at  eight  dol- 
lars a  month  and  had  only  one  pair  of  breeches  to  my 
back,  and  they  were  buckskin,  and  if  you  know  the  na- 
ture of  buckskin,  when  wet  and  dried  by  the  sun,  they 
will  shrink,  and  mine  kept  shrinking  until  they  left  sev- 
eral inches  of  my  legs  bare  between  the  top  of  my  socks 


28  ABRAHAM  LINXOLX. 

and  the  lower  part  of  my  breeches,  and  whilst  I  was 
growing  taller,  they  were  becoming  shorter,  and  so  much 
tighter  that  they  left  a  blue  streak  around  my  legs  that 
can  be  seen  to  this  day.  If  you  call  this  aristocracy  I 
Dlead  oruiltv  to  therharge/' 

]Mr.  Lincohi  was  elected  by  a  larger  vote  than  any 
other  candidate.  Sangamon  County,  that  had  usually 
gone  Democratic, went  Whig  by  more  than  four  hundred 
majority.  The  Convention  System  was  now  taking  root 
in  the  west  Some  of  the  members  of  the  legislature  of 
1836  and  1837,  among  whom  was  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
were  nominated  b}-  conventions,  and  hereafter  the  Whigs 
are  compelled  to  fall  into  line.  Elections  are  to  be  con- 
ducted no  more  on  the  self-nominating  plan  and  person- 
ally conducted  canvass.  But  national  issues  and  national 
parties  are  to  control  in  state  affairs.  This  change,  in  the 
minds  of  m^any,  was  prejudicial  to  the  real  interests  of 
state  affairs  and  certainly  detracted  much  from  the  gro- 
tesqueness  and  individuality  displayed  in  the  self-nominat- 
ing and  self-conducted  campaign.  Men  now  stood  upon 
the  platform  of  a  party,  when  they  accepted  a  nomination. 
;Mr.  Lincoln  was  hereaftet  to  be  a  party  man,  sometimes 
leading  his  party,  but  all  the  time  loyal  to  it,  and  seeking 
to  force  no  movement  until  the  rank  and  fde  of  his  parly 
were  abreast  with  him. 

In  national  politics,  at  the  time  of  the  meeting  of  the 
legislature  of  1836-37,  the  country  w.is  on  the  verge  of  a 
panic.  The  deposits  of  the  United  States  had  been  with- 
drawn from  the  U.  S.  Bank  and  deposited  in  specie-pay- 
ing state  banks.     The  whigs  had  passed  an  act  requiring 


ABRAHAM  LINXOLN.  29 

the  funds  of  the  government  to  be  deposited  with  the 
states,  the  act  to  go  into  effect  Jan.  ist,  1S37.  A  month 
before  this  -date  the  Legislature  of  Illinois  met  at  \'an- 
dalia.  Thither  ]\Ir.  Lincoln  werit  with  the  intention  of 
beincr  an  active  member.  He  had  been  instructed  by 
his  constituents  to  vote  for  a  system  of  internal  improve- 
ments. All  parts  of  the  state  were  clamoring  for  them 
and  men  of  all  parties  were  of  one  mind  in  the  matter. 
Lines  of  railroads,  improvement  of  rivers,  the  Illinois 
canal,  and  th.e  location  of  the  capital  and  the  setting  up 
of  state  banks,  were  the  great  questions  of  the  session. 
Members  of  the  legislature  interested  in  one  localitv 
swapped  votes  to  other  localities  for  votes  in  favor  of 
their  project.  Thus  the  log-rolling  went  on  till  nearly 
every  countv  in  the  state  shared  in  the  plunder  of  their 
common  treasurv  which  was  recruited  bv  issues  of  bonds 
that  ought  to  have  paralyzed  any  sane  company  of  leg- 
islators who  could  foresee  the  consequences;  but  they 
were  intoxicated  by  the  spirit  of  speculation. 

Among  the  schemes  in  which  Mr.  Lincoln  chiefly  fig- 
ured was  the  removal  of  the  capital  to  Springfield.  As 
a  member  of  the  Long  Nine  from  Sangamon  County — so 
called  because  their  average  height  was  over  six  feet  — he 
so  skillfully  disposed  of  the  votes  of  himself  and  his  col- 
leagues, in  return  for  votes  on  behalf  of  vSpringfield,  that 
that  city  was  selected  as  the  capital  of  the  state.  Ford 
estimates,  in  liis"History  of  Illinois,"  that  it  was  made  to 
cost  the  state  six  millions  of  duUars  for  the  remo\-al  of 
the  capital  from  Vandalia,  and  naming  the  men  who 
participated  in   this  reckless  legislation  and  the  high  po- 


30 


ABRAHAM  LINXOLX. 


\ 


sitions  to  which  most  of  them  later  attained,  he  declares 
all  of  them  to  be  "spared  monuments  of  popular  wrath, 
evincing  how  safe  it  is  to  a  politician,  but  how  disas- 
trous it  may  be  to  the  country-  to  keep  along  with  the 
present  fervor  of  the  people." 

Mr.  Lincoln,  in  his  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  leg- 
~.  islature,   obeved  the  will 


of  his  constituents  in  lo- 
cating the  capital  at 
Springfield,  and  the  will 
of  the  people  at  large  in 
voting  for  a  general  sys- 
tem of  improvements  at 
the  public  expense,  and 
his  own  judgment  was 
committed  to  the  policy. 
The  fruition  of  their  reck- 
less legislation  was  debt 
and  disaster,all  had  sinned 
and  all  suffered,  and  the 
penalties  were  not  visited 
upon  the  legislators  who 
recorded  the  popular  will.  More  creditable  to  Lincoln's 
mind  and  heart  at  this  session  of  the  state  legisla- 
ture was  the  protest  in  which  he  joined,  against  the  act- 
ion of  the  legislature  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  Xo 
state  was  more  pronounced  than  Illinois  on  the  subject  of 
repressing  the  Abolition  movement.  Illinois  had  de- 
cided once  for  all,  in  1824,  that  it  was  not  disposed 
to  become  a  slave  state,  but  its  people  had  no  sympathy 


Library  Chair  useu  toy  Lincoln  during  Ms 
Occupancy  of  the  White  Houie. 


ABRAHAM  LINXOLX.  31 

as  yet  with  the  movement  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the 
South.  The  name  Abolitionist  was  counted  by  the  peo- 
ple of  Illinois  as  hardly  better  than  Horse-thief  and  the 
so-called  Black  Code  of  the  state,  discriminating  against 
negroes  whether  free  or  slave  would  have  been  a  disgrace 
to  Turkey. 

In  1836,  Elijah  P.  Lovejoy,  who  had  been  publishing 
a  moderately  anti-slavery  paper  in  St.  Louis,  moved  to 
Alton,  where  he  found  the  opposition  even  stronger  than 
in  Missouri,  and  his  press  was  broken  up  and  thrown  into 
the  river.  He  again  set  up  his  press  which  was  to  pub- 
lish a  religious  paper,  and  not  distinctively  an  abolition 
paper,  though  he  claimed  the  right  as  an  American  citi- 
zen to  publish  whatever  he  pleased  on  any  subject,  hold- 
ing himself  answerable  to  the  laws  of  the  country  in  so 
doing.  Only  occasionally,  did  he  discuss  the  subject  of 
slavery,  but  so  repugnant  was  abolition  sentiment  to  the 
people  about  him  that  his  office  was  again  destroyed.  The 
setting  up  of  another  press  was  followed  by  his  murder 
in  defence  of  his  life  and  his  property.  It  was  during 
this  state  of  feeling,  that  culminated  in  Lovejoy's  mur- 
der, that  Lincoln  bravely  wrote  a  protest  against  the  ex- 
treme action  of  the  legislature  on  the  slaven,'  question, 
and  obtained  the  signature  thereto  of  a  colleague  with  his 
own.  The  resolutions  were  read  and  ordered  to  be  spread 
upon  the  journal  of  the  house.  In  these  resolutions  he 
stated  that  he  believed  that  the  institution  of  slavery  is 
founded  upon  injustice  and  bad  policy,  but  that  the  pro- 
mulgation of  abolition  doctrine  tends  rather  to  increase 
than  to  abate  its  evils.     That  the  Congress  of  the  L'nited 


32  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

States  has  no  power  under  the  Constitution  to  interfere 
with  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  different  states. 

That  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  has  the  power 
under  the  Constitution  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,  but  that  the  j'ower  ought  not  to  be  exer- 
cized unless  at  the  request  of  the  people  of  the  district. 
On  this  question  he  saw  clearer  than  his  colleagues  and 
came  nearest  to  the  view  of  wise  statesmanship  that  at 
that  staofe  of  the  grame  would  make  the  abolition  of  slav- 
ery  the  result  of  growth  and  of  the  logic  of  events,  rather 
than  the  result  of  upheaval  and  revolution.  We  do  not 
decry  the  work  of  the  abolitionists,  nor  would  he  in  his 
later  years.  They  preached  the  iniquity  of  slavery  and 
roused  the  moral  sense  of  the  nation  for  the  final  struggle 
when  the  hand  that  wrote  the  protest  of  1S38  might 
write  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  of  1863,  with  a 
possibility  of  its  enforcement.  Between  these  documents 
lies,  perhaps,  the  most  critical  period  of  American  his- 
tory. Lincoln  is  at  length  to  be  the  foremost  figure  of 
that  period,  moving  without  haste,  but  steadily,  to  the 
accomplishment  of  that  supreme  act  which  the  impatient 
Abolitionist  would  have  performed  at  once,  regardless  of 
the  wreck  and  ruin  which  the  attempt  at  immediate  en- 
forcement of  his  policy  would  work. 

I\Ir.  Lincoln  was  again  elected  to  the  legislature  in 
1838,  and  had  reached  such  prominence  that  he  was  the 
candidate  of  his  party  for  speaker.  He  was  not  elected, 
but  remained  on  the  finance  committee  and  took  a  hand 
in  trying  to  extricate  the  state  from  the  almost  hopeless 
bankruptcy  into  which  it   had  been  plunged  by  the  ex- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  33 

travagant  legislation  of  1836  and  ''2,J-  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
elected  again  in  1840,  but  did  not  appear  in  the  session 
of  1 84 1  and  1842  for  reasons  of  a  private  nature.  His 
early  love  for  Ann  Rntledge  had  met  with  disappoint- 
ment and  he  mourned  over  her  grave  with  a  heart  well- 
nigh  broken.  Others  had  excited  his  interest,  but  the 
old  love  was  the  ideal  love  for  him,  and  no  later  affection 
could  compare  with  it,  so  that  although  he  believed  it 
was  proper  for  him  to  settle  down  in  married  life, his  loy- 
alty to  such  affection  as  he  had  known,  and  his  honorable 
character, made  it  difficult  for  him  to  assume  the  vows  of 
married  life  on  any  other  basis  than  full  and  complete 
devotion  to  the  woman  wdiom  he  should  call  his  wife. 

In  1839,  he  was  thrown  much  in  the  society  of  ]\Iiss 
Mary  Todd  of  Lexington,  Ky.,  and  he  became  engaged 
to  her.  The  date  of  the  wedding  was  set,  but  he  did  not 
appear.  His  struggle  with  himself  as  to  whether  he  was 
doing  right  well-nigh  unsettled  his  mind,  and  his  friends 
withdrew  him  to  the  quiet  of  Mr.  Speed's  home  in  Ken- 
tucky, till  this  crisis  of  his  history  should  pass.  When  he 
returned,  his  relations  to  Miss  Todd  were  resumed.  She 
was  a  clever  writer,  with  some  taste  for  politics,  and  dur- 
ing the  period  of  their  courtship  they  beguiled  them- 
selves with  political  writing  in  the  Sangamon y<92^r««/  un- 
der the  nom  de  plume  of  "Rebecca."  The  letters  were 
cleverly  done  in  the  style  of  caricature  and  bore  hard  upon 
Mr.  James  Shields,  an  aspiring  Democratic  politician  of 
somewhat  pompous  and  pretending  manner.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln chivalrously  assumed  the  sole  authorship  of  the  let- 
ters, for  the  protection  of  Miss  Todd,  and  speedily  found 


34  ABRAHAM  LIN'COLX. 

himself  embroiled  with  Mr.  Shields,  who  demanded  sat- 
isfaction. Nothing  but  a  duel  or  an  abject  apology 
would  be  accepted,  and  the  mutual  friends  of  ]\Ir.  Lincoln 
and  Mr.  Shields  were  kept  busy  arranging  the  prelimi- 
naries of  a  contest.  "]\Ir.  Lincoln  treated  the  matter  with 
indifference,  chose  broadswords  as  the  weapons,  and 
agreed  upon  the  time  and  place  for  meeting,  with  little 
thought  that  the  duel  would  ever  come  off.  He  was  op- 
posed to  dueling,  and  in  choosing  the  weapons,  he  avoided 
pistols  to  avert  a  tragedy,  and  chose  cavalry  broadswords, 
knowing,  as  Arnold  says,  that  if  the  meeting  should  take 
place  nothing  but  a  tragedy  could  have  prevented  its  be- 
ing a  farce.  The  matter  was  adjusted  by  the  publication 
of  a  statement  that  while  Mr.  Lincoln  was  the  author  of 
the  article  signed  "Rebecca,"  he  had  no  intention  of  injur- 
ing the  personal  or  private  character  or  standing  of  Mr. 
Shields  as  a  gentleman  or  man,  and  that  he  did  not 
think  that  the  article  could  produce  such  an  effect,  and 
had  Mr.  Lincoln  anticipated  such  an  effect  he  would 
have  forborne  to  write  it.  Thus  this  serio-comic  affair 
passed  with  little  result  save  to  emphasize  the  vanity 
and  sensitiveness  of  Gen.  Shields,  and  the  cleverness  and 
candor  of  Mr.  I^incoln. 

I^Ir.  Lincoln  carried  out  his  engagement  with  ]Mary 
Todd,  and  was  married  to  her  in  November,  1842,  with 
forebodings  that  did  not  promise  well  for  a  happy  married 
life.  Possibly,  as  Mr.  Lincoln  feared,  they  were  not  alto- 
gether fitted  for  each  other.  But  never,  by  word  or  deed, 
was  he  disloyal  to  his  marriage  vows,  nor  did  he  ex- 
pose the  wounds  of  his  heart. 


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a 

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a 
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so 


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k. 

m  ^"li^l 

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S  t                  ".^^^^^1 

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• 

|i6 

^^^^^^^^  ''^^l^k 

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f"^ 

r 

c 

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5' 

W 
m 
o 
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V 

s- 

B 

o 

o 

C 

B 


36  ABRAHAM  LINXOLX. 

He  was  not  able  at  this  time  to  provide  a  home  of  his 
own,  but  took  up  his  residence  at  the  Globe  Tavern  in 
Springfield  at  an  expense  of  four  dollars  a  week  for  board 
and  lodging  for  himself  and  wife.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been 
licensed  as  an  attorney  in  1837,  ^^^^  ^'^^^^  removed  to 
Springfield  when  that  city  became  the  capital  of  the  state. 
Among  the  men  who  were  his  compeers,  some  of  whom 
afterwards  attained  prominence,  were  Stephen  T.  Logan, 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  E.  D.  Baker,  John  T.Stuart,  Ninian 
W.  Edwards,  Jesse  B.  Thomas,  and  others  of  local  re- 
nown. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  reputation,  thus  far,  has  been  as  a  poli- 
tician in  Sangamon  Co.  Politics  will  continue  to  have 
the  chief  fascination  for  his  mind,  but  law  will  be  his 
profession  and  his  means  of  li^•elihood.  He  found  his 
first  law  partner  in  his  friend  John  T.  Stuart,  to  whom  he 
had  previously  been  indebted  for  the  loan  of  books  from 
which  to  learn  the  law.  In  a  little  dingy  office  in  the 
then  unkempt  town  of  Springfield,  the  firm  of  Stuart  & 
Lincoln  was  installed,  and  Lincoln  began  his  career  of 
divided  interest  between  politics  and  law.  He  was  still 
a  member  of  the  legislature,  and  though  the  affairs  of  the 
state  were  in  sad  need  of  attention,  the  politics  of  the 
time  began  to  be  confined  to  national  issues, and  Mr,  Lin- 
coln, like  the  rest,  began  to  occupy  himself  with  a  sur- 
vey of  national  affairs. 

In  January,  1837,  he  delivered  an  address  before  the 
Springfield  Lyceum  on  the  Perpetuation  of  our  Free  In- 
stitutions, which  shows  that  the  young  lawyer  had  now 
attained  to  the  full  consciousness  and  dignity  of  an  Amer- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  37 

ican  Citizen,  who  prizes  his  birth-right  and  seeks  calml)' 
to  discern  the  perils  of  the  nation,  and  earnestly  to  put 
her  in  a  position  of  security  and  permanence.  This 
speech  marks  him  at  that  early  date,  as  more  than  a  pol- 
itician, grabbing  and  compromising  in  the  state  assembly 
for  local  interests;  rather  as  an  American  citizen  open- 
ing his  eyes  to  the  greatness  of  the  nation,  the  difficulties 
and  the  dangers  that  hazard  the  common  weal. 

As  his  physical  vision  overtopped  that  of  his  fellows., 
so  now  he  seems  to  look  out  on  a  broader  political  hori- 
zon than  they.  His  eye  henceforth  will  not  be  with- 
drawn from  that  wide  view  until  all  shall  be  clear  to 
him,  and  he  shall  be  accepted  as  his  nation's  prophet  and 
seer.  The  speech  to  which  I  refer  may  be  overcharged 
with  rhetoric,  a  vice  that  is  common  with  young  orators, 
but  it  has  the  true  ring  of  sincerity  and  patriotism,  and 
time  will  add  the  charm  and  force  of  directness  and  sim- 
plicity to  his  style. 

In  all  the  political  campaigns  of  the  time  his  voice  was 
heard  in  the  meetings  of  politicians,  in  the  grocery, or  the 
office  or  on  the  rostrum.  He  was  a  central  figure  in  these 
meetings.  He  studied  politics,  got  in  shape  his  argu- 
ments, and  learned  the  art  of  putting  things  to  an  aver- 
age American  audience,  as  few  jDoliticians  have  acquired 
it.  The  question  of  the  sub-treasury  was  an  absorbing 
question  of  1840.  It  was  the  Democratic  party  measure 
to  provide  for  the  convenient  and  safe  keeping  of  the  na- 
tional funds.  It  has  proved  a  wise  expedient,  but  Mr. 
Lincoln  opposed  it,  as  did  his  party.  Apparently,  on 
questions  of  public  credit,  fiscal  expedients   and  finance, 


38  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

he  was  not  destined  to  be  an  authority.  It  was  on  the 
questions  of  freedom  and  union,  and  the  measures  that 
make  for  them,  that  he  was  to  specialize  and  succeed. 
Meanwhile,  he  was  working  hard  at  the  bar,  but  leaving 
no  opportunity  unused  to  evince  his  interest  in  politics. 

In  1843,  he  aspired  to  run  for  Congress,  but  was  dis- 
tanced in  the  race  for  the  Whig  nomination  by  E.  D. 
Baker.  He  was  appointed  a  delegate  to  the  nominating 
convention,  and  magnanimously  served.  He  humorous- 
ly alludes  lo  his  predicament  in  writing  to  his  friend 
Speed,  where  he  says,  "In  getting  Baker  the  nomination 
I  shall  be  fixed  a  good  deal  like  a  fellow  who  is  made 
groomsman  to  a  man  that  has  cut  him  out  and  is  marry- 
ing his  own  dear  'gal.'  " 

In  1844,  1^^  was  a  candidate  for  election  on  the  Whig 
ticket,  and  stumped  the  state  for  Mr.  Clay  for  President. 
In  joint  debates  and  independent  speeches  he  maintained 
his  Whig  principles  and  chivalrously  labored  for  the 
idol  of  his  party.  The  defeat  of  Clay  was,  to  him,  a 
source  of  sorrow,  but  setting  aside  his  political  disap- 
pointment, he  studiously  set  himself  to  the  discharge  of 
his  professional  duties  until  1846,  when  he  was  nomina- 
ted for  Congress  and  elected.  Peter  Cartwright  was  the 
standard-bearer  of  the  opposition.  He  was  a  doughty 
antagonist,  whose  clerical  relations  were  dead  weight 
upon  him,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  easily  "got  the  preacher"  as 
he  expressed  it,  and  with  the  aid  of  Democratic  votes. 
He  was  the  only  Whig  member  from  Illinois,  and  thus 
came  into  special  prominence.  Some  of  his  colleagues 
from   the  state  were  Wentworth,  McClernand,  Ficklin, 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


39 


Richardson  and  Turner.     Douglas  had  just  reached  the 
Senate. 

The   roll    of   the    house  at   this,   the    30th  Congress, 
showed  a  galaxy  of  great  names.      Robert  Winthrop  was 
the  Speaker,  and  among  the  Whigs  were  John   Quincy 
Adams,   Horace   INIann,    Colla- 
mer,     Stephens    and  Toombs; 
and     among     the     Democrats 
were    Wilmot    and  Cobb,    Mc- 
Dowell and  Andrew  Johnson, 
while    Webster    and    Calhoun, 
and   Benton  and  Clayton  were 
members  of  the  Senate. 

Lincoln  at  once  took  an  act-, 
ive  part  in  the  discussions 
that  related  to  the  Mexican 
War,  that  scheme  of  the 
Southern  statesmen  to  acquire 
more  territory  for  the  ex- 
pansion of  slavery.  He  held,  as  did  the  Whigs,  that  the 
war  was  unnecessarily  and  unconstitutionally  begun, 
and  in  his  famous  "Spot  Resolutions,"  he  called  upon 
the  president  to  put  his  finger  on  the  spot  on  American 
soil  on  which  the  Mexicans  were  aggressors,  as  the 
president  had  alleged.  ]\Ir.  Lincoln  did,  however,  vote 
with  his  party  to  give  supplies  to  the  troops  and  thanks 
to  the  generals  who  conducted  the  war,  while  censuring 
the  president  for  his  part  in  bringing  it  on.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln had  a  weary  time  explaining  to  his  constituents 
what  they  considered   his  inconsistency  in  attacking  the 


Andrew  Johnson. 
Born  IbOd.       Died  1875. 


40  ABRAHAM  LINXOLN. 

president  for  bringing  on  the  war  and  then  voting  sup- 
plies for  its  conduct.  Before  his  return  from  the  east 
and  after  the  session  of  Congress,  he  made  several  cam- 
paign speeches  in  New  England,  enlarged  his  acquaint- 
ance and  became  more  familiar  wnth  the  elements  that 
should  enter  into  future  politics. 

His  second  session  passed  without  any  striking  inci- 
dent save  one  that  indicated  his  attitude  to  the  slavery 
question.  On  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  which  favored  the 
purchase  of  Mexican  territory  and  prohibiting  of  slavery 
thereon,  he  voted,  as  often  as  it  was  up,  in  the  affirma- 
tive, and  he  himself  proposed  a  resolution  for  the  gradu- 
al compensated  emancipation  of  slaves  in  the  District  of 
Columbia.  Thus  ended  his  congressional  career  in 
which,  in  the  national  arena,  he  had  gained  a  unique 
outlook  on  public  affairs,  and  wdiere  he  won  some  repu- 
tation as  a  consistent  Whig,  loyal  to  his  party,  and  op- 
posed to  the  extension  of  slavery;  and  likewise  as  a  po- 
litical antagonist,  clear  in  statement,  fertile  in  illustra- 
tion, and  with  a  talent  for  ridicule  and  sarcasm  that  was 
difficult  to  be  reckoned  with.  He  easily  yielded  the 
nomination  to  the  next  Congress  to  his  friend,  Stephen 
T.  Logan,  and  continued  the  practice  of  law,  but  with 
an  abiding  interest  in  national  affairs,  ready  when  the 
time  should  again  come,  to  take  his  part  in  the  struggle. 

From  1848  to  i860,  his  chief  work  as  a  lawyer  was  to 
be  done,  and  likewise  the  work  that  should  determine 
his  selection  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency  of  the 
United  States.  In  i860,  the  scene  of  his  legal  services 
lay  in  the  eighth  judicial    circuit  in  which   Sangamon 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  41 

County  was  included  till  1S59.  The  court  intinerated 
from  county  to  county,  and  I\Ir.  Lincoln  followed  it, 
first  on  a  borrowed  horse,  then  on  a  nag  of  his  own,  which 
he  cared  for  himself,  and  later,  in  a  second-hand  buggy. 
His  cominof  was  always  welcomed  at  the  hotel  where  he 
was  wont  to  stop  and  by  the  lawyers  on  the  circuit.  Un- 
complaining, genial  and  unselfish,  he  met  the  incidents 
and  inconveniences  of  this  itinerant  life  in  so  cheerful  a 
manner,  and  his  pranks  and  stories  were  so  enjoyable, 
that  outside  of  the  court  room  and  in  it,  no  one  was  more 
popular  than  he.  His  houesty  was  a  proverb.  No  shady 
case  had  any  standing  or  encouragement  from  him.  Po\-- 
erty  was  no  bar  to  the  securement  of  his  services,  and 
when  he  entered  on  a  case  to  which  his  judgment  and 
conscience  were  committed  he  entered  upon  it  with  a 
thoroughness  and  fearlessness  which  seldom  met  with 
failure. 

Judge  Caton,  for  many  years  one  of  the  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  and  intimate  with  Mr.  Lincoln,  says  of 
him:  "He  was  a  close  reasoner,  reasoning  by  analogy  and 
usually  enforcing  his  views  by  apt  illustrations.  His 
mode  of  speaking  was  generally  of  a  plain  and  unimpas- 
sioned  character,  3^et  abounding  with  eloquence,  imagin- 
ation and  fancy.  His  great  reputation  for  integrity  was 
well  deserv^ed.  The  most  punctilious  honor  ever  marked 
his  professional  and  private  life.  He  seemed  entirely  ig- 
norant of  the  art  of  deception  and  dissimulation.  His 
frankness  and  candor  were  elements  which  contributed  to 
his  professional  success.  If  he  discovered  a  weak  point 
in  his  cause  he  frankly  admitted  it  and  thereby  prepared 


42  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

the  mind  to  accept  the  more  readily  his  mode  of  avoid- 
ing it.  No  one  ever  accused  him  of  taking  an  unfair  or 
underhanded  advantage  in  tlie  whole  course  of  his  pro- 
fessional career." 

He  put  the  kindest  construction  possible  on  the  frail- 
ties of  his  fellow  men.  He  sympathized  with  the  un- 
fortunate, and  relieved  them  to  the  utmost  of  his  ability 
in  their  distress.  He  was  true  as  steel  to  his  clear  appre- 
hension of  intellectual  and  moral  truth,  unyielding  in 
matters  of  honor  and  principle.  He  could  flay  an  adver- 
sary relentlessly  who  by  cowardice  or  meanness,  by  ma- 
lice or  greed,  exposed  himself  to  his  denunciation.  He 
could  be  tender  as  a  woman  to  misfortune  or  suffering. 
He  was  wondrously  constituted  to  be  a  great  jury  lawyer 
with  his  power  of  analysis,  his  logical  faculties,  his  gen- 
erous sympathies,  his  apt  illustration,  his  candor  and  his 
irresistable  humor. 

He  was  offered  a  lucrative  partnership  in  Chicago  with 
Grant  Goodrich  on  his  return  from  congress,  but  he  pre- 
ferred his  old  circuit  and  his  old  companions.  Though 
he  was  frequently  called  to  the  trial  of  cases  in  prominent 
courts  in  his  own  and  other  states,  and  responded  to  the 
call,  his  heart  was  with  his  comrades  on  his  old  circuit, 
and  he  could  not  be  tempted  from  it.  The  day  before 
he  left  Springfield  for  Washington,  in  1861,  he  went  to 
the  office  to  settle  up  some  unfinished  business.  After 
disposing  of  it  he  gathered  a  bundle  of  papers  and  books 
he  wished  to  take  with  him.  Presently  he  addressed  Mr. 
Herndon,  his  old  partner: 

"Billy,  how  long  have  we  been  together?" 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  43 

"Over  sixteen  years,"  he  answered, 

"We've  never  had  a  cross  word  during  all  that  time, 
have  we?" 

Then,  starting  to  go,  he  paused  and  asked  that  the 
sign-board  of  Lincoln  &  Herndon  which  hung  on  its 
rusty  hinges  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs  be  allowed  to  re- 
main. 

"Let  it  hang  there  undisturbed,"  he  said,  with  a 
significant  lowering  of  his  voice.  "Give  our  clients  to 
understand  that  the  election  of  a  president  makes  no 
change  in  the  firm  of  Lincoln  &  Herndon.  If  I  live  I 
am  coming  back  sometime  and  then  we'll  go  right  on 
practicing  law  as  if  nothing  had  happened." 

If  Lincoln  had  had  no  other  career  than  as  a  lawyer  in 
Central  Illinois,  he  would  have  occupied  a  unique  place 
among  the  great  lawyers  of  the  state.  But  his  mind  was 
always  at  work  upon  the  higher  problems  of  the  national 
life.  He  declined  to  run  for  congress  in  1848  in  favor  of 
Stephen  T.  Logan,  who  suffered  defeat.  He  declined  the 
governorship  of  Oregon,  preferring  to  remain  in  closer 
touch  with  national  affairs  in  Illinois,  than  he  W'Ould  be 
if  he  removed  to  that  distant  region. 

In  1850,  he  again  declined  to  be  a  candidate  for  con- 
gress, though  he  was  strongly  urged.  He  \vas  coming  to 
the  opinion  that  the  sectional  agitation  between  the  North 
and  South  was  beyond  the  skill  of  politicians  to  settle 
by  the  methods  that  had  been  and  w-ere  still,  being 
■tried.  He  had  hoped  that  time  w^ould  heal  the  animosi- 
ties that  threatened  the  existence  of  the  union  and  the 
principles  of  free"  government  on  American  soil.     In  con- 


Lincoln's  Home  at  Springfield. 
In  front  of  the  house  stands  the  tree  planted  by  Lincoln  previous 

to  1850. 


ABRAHA^r  LINXOLN.  45 

versation  with  intimate  friends,  in  1850,  he  stated  that, 
''the  time  is  coming  when  we  must  all  be  Democrats  or 
Abolitionists."  Though  he  acquiesced  in  the  measures 
of  the  Whig  party,  which  were  favorable  to  compromise 
to  avert  strife,  he  spoke  out  his  own  conviction  as  to  the 
injustice  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1850,  and  seemed 
to  feel  disheartened  as   to  any  improvement  as  things 


were  going. 


In  1852,  his  fellow  citizens  at  Springfield  chose  him  to 
deliver  a  eulogy  upon  the  life  and  ser^'ices  of  Henry  Clav. 
This  discourse  was  not  remarkable  in  itself,  save  as  it 
was  the  occasion  to  ^Ir.  Lincoln  for  emphasizing  the 
opinion  of  Mr.  Clay  in  regard  to  slavery  and  the  proper 
method  of  putting  an  end  to  it.  Mr.  Lincoln  agreed 
with  him  in  his  aversion  to  the  institution  and  the  advis- 
ability of  gradual  emancipation  by  the  voluntary-  action 
of  the  people  of  the  slave  states,  and  the  transporting  of 
the  freedmen  to  Africa.  Compensated  and  voluntary- 
emancipation  and  transportation  were  the  features  of 
his  plan,  and  he  hoped  that  it  might  be  realized.  Then, 
assuming  the  tones  and  language  of  a  prophet,  he  said: 

"Pharaoh's  countrA-  was  cursed  with  plagues  and  his 
hosts  were  drowned  into  the  Red  Sea  for  striving  to  retain 
a  captive  people  who  had  already  served  them  more  than 
four  hundred  }ears.  ^lay  like  disaster  never  befall  us. 
If,  as  the  friends  of  colonization  hope,  the  present  and 
coming  generations  of  our  countrymen  shall  by  any  means 
succeed  in  freeing  our  land  from  the  dangerous  presence 
of  slaver}-,  and  at  the  same  time  restoring  a  captive  peo- 
ple to  their  long  lost  fatherland  with  bright  prospects  for 


46  ABRAHAM  LINXOLN. 

the  future,  and  this,  too,  so  gradually  that  neither  races 
nor  individuals  shall  have  suffered  by  the  change,  it  will 
indeed  be  a  glorious  consummation." 

If  only  that  policy  could  have  prevailed  what  sacrifice 
of  human  blood  and  treasure,  what  agony  and  corrow,  it 
might  have  saved!     But  it  was  not  to  be. 

The  Fugitive  Slave  Law  had  been  passed  and  in  the 
Dred  Scott  Decision,  not  only  was  that  law  to  be  upheld, 
but  the  most  extravagant  demands  of  slavery  were  to  be 
confirmed  by  the  highest  court  in  the  land.  INIeasures 
were  to  be  set  on  foot  to  open  the  territories  north  cf  36°. 
30"  to  the  spread  of  slavery.  The  Alissouri  Compromise 
w^as  to  be  repealed  and  the  agent  of  this  legislation,  its 
crafty  and  eloquent  advocate,  was  to  be  a  son  of  Illinois, 
the  early  compeer  and  antagonist  of  IMr.Lincoln,  Stephen 
A.  Douglas.  His  rise  in  politics  had  been  phenomenal. 
His  abilities  were  great  and  his  ambition  more  than  kept 
pace  with  them.  His  objective  point  w-as  the  presidency 
of  the  United  States.  If  he  could  become  the  candidate 
of  a  united  Democracy  for  that  high  office,  the  coveted 
prize  was  within  his  reach.  To  this  end,  he  lent  his  great 
abilities  to  the  carrying  of  those  measures  that  w^ould  be 
acceptable  to  the  pro-slavery  element  of  the  nation.  He 
identified  himself  actively  with  every  movement  that 
sought  to  increase  the  area  of  territory  for  slaver}'  expan- 
sion. H^  held  with  Calhoun  and  Davis  that,  under  the 
Constitution,  slaveholders  could  take  their  slaves  into  the 
territories  of  the  United  States,  subject  ouly  to  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise,  This  obstruction,  as  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  territories,   he  desired  to  set  aside  in  the 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  47 

Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  which  opened  that  vast  area  of 
land  to  settlers  who  could  vote  up  or  down  the  question 
of  slavery,  within  their  limit.  With  the  passing  of  this 
bill,  the  period  of  compromise  was  over.  Friends  of 
Union  and  Freedom  saw  that  there  was  now  no  prospect 
of  peace  without  submission  to  the  extravagant  and  re- 
volting pretensions  of  the  pro-slavery  party. 

It  was  now  that  Mr.  Lincoln  girded  himself  for  the 
great  contest  of  his  life,  and  at  once,  as  if  by  common 
consent,  he  became  the  leader  of  the  x^nti-Nebraska  party, 
as  Air.  Douglas  was  the  leader  of  the  opposing  party  in 
the  North,  and  attention  was  fastened  on  tliese  two  great 
antagonists  whose  strife  should  continue  until  freedom  or 
slavery  should  prevail.  It  was  in  October,  1854,  that 
they  first  measured  weapons  at  the  Illinois  State  fair. 
Mr.  Douglas  defended  his  position  with  his  usual  ability 
and  Mr.  Lincoln  was  put  up  to  answer  him.  There  was 
a  marked  contrast  in  the  men.  One  was  small  of  stature 
but  of  great  physical  force,  a  successful  demagogue,  a 
skilled  debater,  ready  and  resourceful,  ambitious  for  pow- 
er, contending  for  measures  abhorent  to  the  spirit  of  free 
institutions  as  a  means  to  the  accomplishment  of  his  am- 
bitions. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  stalwart,  angular,  and  plain,  not  de- 
void of  ambition,  but  resolutely  opposed  to  the  gaining 
of  a  single  foot  of  American  soil  for  the  extension  or  per- 
petuation of  slavery.  He  attacked  the  positions  of  Mr. 
Douglas  with  clearness'  and  force.  He  so  completely  un- 
covered his  purposes  that  he  carried  his  audience  captive, 
and  his  speech  was  so  permeated  with  intense  moral  con- 


48  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

viction,  that  he  often  quivered  with  emotion  in  its  utter- 
ance. Others  addressed  the  people  that  day,  but  to  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  awarded  the  honor  of  having  pierced  the 
armor  of  his  antagonist,  and  of  having  won  the  right  to 
carry  the  standard  of  freedom  into  the  battle  that  could 
not  be  averted. 

The  Abolitionists  of  the  state  now  sought  to  commit 
him  fully  to  their  programme.  They  felt  that  in  his 
Anti-Nebraska  utterances  he  was  with  them  and  ought 
to  declare  himself  fully,  but  he  avoided  them.  The  time 
for  him  had  not  yet  come.  In  the  fullness  of  time  he 
could  be  more  useful  to  the  cause  of  union  and  freedom  ■ 
by  a  conservative  record  than  if  he  had  been  open  to  the 
charge  of  being  a  fanatical  abolitionist.  On  the  question 
of  the  Anti-Nebraska  Bill  he  could  take  strong  ground, 
and  he  followed  IMr.  Douglas  to  Peoria  to  repeat  the  same 
triumph  in  debate  as  at  Springfield. 

In  1854,  in  spite  of  his  unwillingness,  he  was  elected 
to  the  Illinois  Legislature.  A  senator  was  to  be  elected 
at  that  session  in  place  of  General  Shields,  and  Lincoln 
now  aspired  to  that  position.  There  was  an  Anti-Ne- 
braska majority  of  two  on  joint  ballot,  but  some  of  them 
were  pronounced  Abolitionists,  for  whom  Mr.  Lincoln's 
position  was  not  sufficiently  advanced,  and  five  were  Dem- 
ocrats, who  preferred  to  vote  for  a  senator  with  antece- 
dents like  their  own.  To  the  Abolitionists,  ]\Ir.  Lincoln 
easily  pledged  himself  to  vote  for  the  exclusion  of  slavery 
in  all  territories  of  the  United  States.  Matteson,  the  Dem- 
ocratic candidate,  was  almost  elected.  The  Anti-Ne- 
braska Democrats  would  probably  vote  for  him  on  the 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  49 

next  ballot  in  preference  to  a  Whig  like  Lincoln. 
In  this  emergency  Mr.  Lincoln  magnanimonsly  said 
to  the  Whigs,  "You  ought  to  drop  me  and  go  for  Trum- 
bull. That  is  the  only  way  you  can  defeat  Matteson. 
The  cause  in  this  case  is  to  be  preferred  to  men." 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  reserved  for  the  conspicuous  cam- 
paign of  1858,  when  he  should  contest  for  senatorial  hon- 
ors with  Mr.  Douglas  and  discuss  the  great  issues  of  slav- 
ery extension  in  the  hearing  of  the  nation.  Meanwhile, 
the  bloody  conflicts  between  the  freedom  loving  settlers  of 
Kansas, and  the  border  ruffians,  took  place,  and  the  North 
became  aroused  over  the  plan  of  the  pro-slavery  men  to 
foist  pro-slavery  constitutions  upon  the  territories  that 
should  seek  admission  to  the  union.  For  these  events,  Mr. 
Lincoln  held  Mr.Douglas  responsible,and  he  likewise  held 
fast  to  the  conservative  position  that  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  was  an  act  of  bad  faith,  and  that 
slavery  should  not  be  extended  into  territories  heretofore 
free. 

The  first  national  convention  of  the  Republican  party 
met  in  February,  1856,  and  made  its  platform  on  the  lines 
of  Mr.  Lincoln's  contention  on  the  subject  of  slavery. 
His  prominence  in  the  eye  of  the  party  was  evinced  by 
the  fact  that  from  that  convention  he  received  no  votes 
for  the  vice-presidency.  His  voice  was  heard  during  the 
campaign,  discussing  the  great  issues  of  the  time.  In 
1858,  a  Democratic  state  convention  met  in  Illinois, 
which  besides  nominating  a  state  ticket,  indorsed  the 
name  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  as  his  own  successor  in  the 
senate.     That  crafty  politician  had  begun  to  have  doubts 


50  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

as  to  whether  the  Lecompton  constitution  was  the  act 
and  deed  of  the  people  of  Kansas,  and  sought  to  recall  the 
support  of  the  per^ple  of  his  state, who  were  estranged  from 
him  by  the  violence  that  had  been  introduced  in  Kansas. 
In  the  effort  to  restrain  the  friends  of  freedom  from  freely 
voting  upon  the  issues  that  were  really  before  them,  it 
was  even  suggested  that  Mr.  Douglas  was  on  his  way  to 
the  Republican  fold. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  deceived  by  Mr.  Douglas's  change 
of  attitude.  There  was  an  election  of  senator  in  the  next 
year  in  the  state  of  Illinois,  and  the  two  candidates  were 
the  author  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  and  his  most  con- 
spicuous opponent.  If  this  prize  should  not  slip  from 
Mr.  Douglas's  grasp,  he  must  disavow  some  of  the  fruits 
of  his  labor  on  behalf  of  slavery,  and  thus  retain  enough 
of  his  former  supporters  for  his  election.  It  was  upon 
his  record  as  a  tool  of  slavery  to  open  the  territories  to 
that  institution,  and  upon  the  ground  of  his  inconsistency 
in  presenting  the  doctrine  of  popular  sovereignty,  that 
]\Ir.  Lincoln  assailed  him  in  his  candidacy  for  the  United 
States  Senate. 

In  April,  1858,  a  Democratic  state  convention  met  in 
Illinois  and  indorsed  Mr.  Douglas.  He  had  so  befogged 
many  leading  men  of  Illinois  that  they  begged  the  Re- 
publicans to  trust  him,  and  put  no  one  in  nomination 
against  him.  Already  Mr.  Lincoln  perceived  that  Mr. 
Douglas  had  been  crowded  into  a  position  that  would  ul- 
timately destroy  his  chances  of  leading  a  united  Demo- 
cratic party  in  a  national  election,  for  in  failing  to  uphold 
the  Lecompton  convention,  and  in  representing  in  Illinois 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  51 

that  popular  sovereignity  would  demonstrate  the  ability 
of  the  territories  to  protect  themselves  from  slavery,  he 
created  genuine  alarm  in  the  South.  Mr.  Lincoln's  bat- 
tle was  nearly  won.  It  did  not  matter  if  Mr.  Douglas 
should  defeat  him  by  his  insincere  scheming  in  1858.  A 
greater  day  of  reckoning  was  coming  in  i860. 

On  the  1 6th  of  June  the  Republican  convention  of  Illi- 
nois passed  a  resolution  unanimously  declaring  that"  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  is  our  first  and  only  choice  for  United  States 
Senator  to  fill  the  vacancy  about  to  be  created  by  the  ex- 
piration of  Mr.  Douglas's  term  of  office."  On  the  evening 
of  that  day  he  locked  his  office  door  and  produced  the 
manuscript  of  a  speech  and  read  the  opening  paragraph 
to  his  partner,  ]\Ir.  Herndon.  When  he  had  finished  he 
looked  into  the  astonished  face  of  Mr.  Herndon  and  asked 
him,  "How  do  you  like  that?" 

It  was  the  speech  that  was  to  be  delivered  before  the 
Republican  convention,  avowing  his  candidacy  for  the 
Senate.    The  paragraph  was  as  follows: 

"Gentlemen  of  the  Convention:  If  we  could  first  know 
where  we  are  and  whither  we  are  tending,  we  could  then 
better  judge  what  to  do,  and  how  to  do  it.  We  are  now 
far  on  into  the  fifth  year  since  a  policy  was  initiated  with 
the  avowed  object  and  confident  promise,  of  putting  an  end 
to  slavery  agitation.  Under  the  operation  of  that  policy, 
that  agitation  has  not  only  not  ceased  but  has  constantly 
augmented.  In  my  opinion  it  will  not  cease  until  a  crisis 
has  been  reached  and  passed.  'A  house  divided  against 
itself  cannot  stand.'  I  believe  this  government  cannot 
endure,  permanently,  half  slave  and  half  free.       I  do  not 


52  ABRAHAM  LINXOLN. 

expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved.  I  do  not  expect  the 
house  to  fall.  But  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divid- 
ed. It  will  become  all  one  thing  or  all  the  other.  Either 
the  opponents  of  slavery  will  arrest  the  farther  spread  of 
it  and  place  it  where  the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  the 
belief  that  it  is  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction,  or 
its  adversaries  will  push  it  forward  till  it  shall  become 
alike  lawful  in  all  the  states,  old  as  well  as  new;  North 
as  well  as  South." 

Then  followed  a  masterly  review  of  the  aggressive 
steps  by  which  pro-slavery  legislators  had  sought  to  ex- 
tend the  institution,  and  the  part  that  ]\Ir.  Douglas  had 
played  in  it,  and  his  present  inconsistent  attitude  toward 
his  party  and  his  insincere  overture  to  the  Republican 
party.  Then  with  the  clarion  peal  of  an  acknowledged, 
trusted,  and  confident  leader,  he  concluded: 

"Two  years  ago  the  Republicans  of  the  nation  mus- 
tered, over  thirteen  hundred  thousand  strong.  We  did 
this  under  the  single  impulse  of  resistance  to  a  common 
danger,  with  every  external  circumstance  against  us.  Of 
strange,  discordant,  and  even  hostile  elements,  we  gath- 
ered from  the  four  winds,  and  formed  and  fought  the  bat- 
tle through  imder  the  constant  hot  fire  of  a  disciplined, 
proud  and  pampered  enemy.  Did  we  brave  all  that  to 
fall  now?  Now,  when  that  same  enemy  is  wavering,  dis- 
severed and  belligerent?  The  result  is  not  doubtful.  We 
shall  not  fail:  If  we  stand  firm  we  shall  not  fail.  Wise 
counsels  may  accelerate  or  mistakes  delay  it,  but  sooner 
or  later  the  victorv  is  sure  to  come." 

Mr.   Herndon  said,    "Is  it  politic  to  speak  it  as  it  is 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  53 

written?"  referring  to  the  expression,  "A  house  divided 
against  itself  cannot  stand." 

Mr.  Lincoln  answered,  "I  want  to  use  some  universally 
known  figure,  expressed  in  simple  language  as  universally 
known,  that  may  strike  home  to  the  minds  of  men  in  or- 
der to  rouse  them  to  the  peril  of  the  times.  I  would 
rather  be  defeated  with  this  expression  in  the  speech,  and 
it  held  up  and  discussed  before  the  people,  than  to  be  vic- 
torious without  it." 

Other  friends  were  called  in  council.  They  thought 
his  utterance  impolitic  and  sure  to  lead  to  his  defeat.  Mr. 
Lincoln  heard  them  patiently.  Mr.  Herndon  was  the 
only  one  who  said: 

"Lincoln,  deliver  it  just  as  it  reads,  the  speech  is  true, 
wise,  politic  and  will  succeed  now  or  in  the  future." 

Then  Mr.  Lincoln  broke  silence  and  said,  "Friends,  1 
have  thought  about  the  matter  a  great  deal,  have  weighed 
the  question  well  from  all  corners,  and  am  thoroughly 
convinced  the  time  has  come  when  it  should  be  uttered, 
and  if  it  must  be,  that  I  must  go  down  because  of  this 
speech,  then  let  me  go  down  linked  to  truth,  die  in  the 
advocacy  of  what  is  right  and  just.  This  nation  cannot 
live  on  injustice.  'A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot 
stand,'  I  say  again  and  again." 

He  spoke  these  words  with  deep  emotion.  For  him 
the  die  was  cast.     The  speech  was  delivered. 

The  Democrats  thought  he  had  dug  his  political  grave. 
The  conservative  Republicans  shrugged  their  shoulders. 
They  thought  it  presaged  defeat.  The  radical  Republi- 
cans and  the  Abolitionists  recognized   in  it  the  platform 


54  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

of  the  coming  struggle,  and  the  watchword  of  victory. 

Then  followed  the  campaign  with  its  joint  meetings. 
It  was  the  intellectual  combat  of  Titans.  Mighty  as- 
semblies gathered  all  over  the  state,  and  the  press  of  the 
nation  reproduced  the  struggle  so  that  the  entire  country 
witnessed  the  combat.  The  whole  question  of  slavery, 
and  ]\Ir.  Douglas's  relation  to  it,  was  discussed,  in  a 
manner  perfectly  satisfactory  to  the  friends  of  freedom 
and  union.  In  the  course  of  the  campaign,  with  the 
shrewdness  of  the  great  lawyer  that  he  was,  Lincoln  asked 
Mr.  Douglas  for  a  candid  answer  to  four  questions  that  he 
might  get  an  answer  to  one  of  them.  That  question  was, 
"Can  the  people  of  a  United  States  Territory  in  any  law- 
ful way,  against  the  wishes  of  any  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  exclude  slavery  from  its  limits?" 

Mr.  Douglas  answered,  "It  matters  not  what  way  the 
Supreme  Court  may  hereafter  decide  as  to  the  abstract 
question,  whether  slavery  may  or  may  not  go  into  a  ter- 
ritory, under  the  Constitution.  The  people  have  the  law- 
ful means  to  introduce  or  exclude  it  as  ihey  please,  for 
the  reason  that  slaverv  cannot  exist  a  dav  or  an  hour 
anywhere  unless  it  is  .supported  by  local  police  regula- 
tions. Those  police  regulations  can  only  be  established 
by  the  local  legislature,  and  if  the  people  are  opposed  to 
slavery  they  will  elect  representatives  to  that  body  who 
will,  by  unfriendly  legislation,  effectually  prevent  the  in- 
troduction of  it  into  their  midst." 

The  doctrine  of  "possible  unfriendly  legislation" 
alarmed  and  incensed  the  South.  The  wedge  that  had 
been  started  by  Mr.  Douglas's  Anti- Lecompton  attitude, 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  55 

was  driven  still  deeper  by  the  answer  to  this  question.  It 
presaged  the  sundering  of  the  Democratic  party  in  twain, 
and  the  triumph  of  the  principles  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Spring- 
field speech.  The  election  that  should  determine  the 
senator-ship  took  place  Nov.  2,  1858.  The  ticket  which 
Mr.  Lincoln  championed  had  four  thousand  more  votes 
than  the  Democratic,  but  by  an  old  and  inequitable  ap- 
portionment of  the  districts  of  the  state,  a  majority  of 
the  law-makers  chosen  were  Democrats.  ]\Ir.  Douglas 
was  re-elected.  When  asked  how  he  felt  over  the  re- 
sult, ]\Ir.  Lincoln  answered  that  he  felt  like  the  boy  that 
stubbed  his  toe.  It  hurt  too  bad  to  laugh  and  he  was 
too  big  to  cry.  But  he  won  a  reputation  as  a  debater 
that  was  a  revelation  to  the  nation.  He  was  so  strong, 
so  fair,  so  temperate,  so  manly,  in  the  great  conflict,  that 
he  instantly  took  front  rank  among  the  national  leaders 
who  were  devoted  to  the  union  and  opposed  to  the  ex- 
tension of  slavery. 

On  the  25th  of  February,  i860,  he  was  invited  to  New 
York,  and  delivered  at  Cooper  Institute,  before  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  of  American  audiences,  his  masterly  review 
of  the  political  questions  of  the  hour.  His  utterances  were 
all  that  could  be  desired.  The  nation  had  made  his  ac- 
quaintance and  acknowledged  his  power  and  worth. 

On  May  9th  and  loth,  the  Republican  state  convention 
of  Illinois  met  at  Decatur.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  present  as 
a  spectator,  sitting  quietly  just  within  the  door  of  the 
wigwam.  Richard  J.  Oglesby  was  on  the  platform.  He 
arose  and  stated: 

"I  am  informed  that  a  distinguished  citizen  of  Illinois 


56 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


and  one  whom  Illinois  will  ever  delight  to  honor,  is  pres- 
ent, and  I  wish  to  move  that  this  body  invite  him  to  a 
seat  on  the  stand."  Here  ]\Ir.  Oglesby  paused,  as  if  to 
tantalize     his     audience     and    arouse    their    curiosity, 

and  then  he  announced 
the  magic  name  of  Abra- 
ham Lincoln. 

Pandemonium  reigned 
for  a  while  in  that  wig- 
warn.  Then  the  motion 
was  seconded  and  carried 
with  tumultous  shouts  and 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  carried 
over  the  heads  of  the  au- 
dience to  his  place  on  the 
platform.  Mr.  Lincoln 
rose,  smiled,  bowed  and 
blushed,as  if  overwhelmed 
with  the  enthusiastic  attention  of  his  fellow  citizens. 
Later,  Mr.  Oglesby  rose  again  with  a  mysterious  speech 
upon  his  lips: 

"There  is  an  old  Democrat,"  said  he,  "waiting  outside, 
who  has  something  he  wishes  to  present  to  the  conven- 
tion." 

"Receive  it,"  they  cried. 

The  doors  of  the  wigwam  opened  and  in  marched  old 
John  Hanks  with  two  fence  rails  on  his  shoulders,  bear- 
ing the  inscription, "Two  rails,  from  a  lot  made  by  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  and  John  Hanks,  in  the  Sangamon  bottom, 
in  the  year  1830."    The  audience  was  beside  itself.    Mr. 


Richard  J.  Oglesby, 
War  Governor  of  Illinois. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


57 


Lincoln  blushed  and  laughed.      They  insisted  upon   a 
speech,  and  he  said: 

"Gentlemen:  I  suppose  you  want  to  know  something 
about  those  things.  Well,  the  truth  is  John  Hanks  and 
I  did  make  rails  in  the  Sangamon  bottom.     I  don't  know 


^,^„^,,'f-^4f^^^ 


The  Wigwam,  at  Chicago.    The  Building  in  which  Lincoln  was  Nominated 
for  the  Presidency  by  the  Republican  Party,  May  18,  1860. 

whether  we  made  those  rails  or  not.  The  fact  is  I  don't 
think  they  are  a  credit  to  the  makers.  But  I  do  know 
that  I  made  rails  then,  and  think  I  could  make  better 
ones  than  those  now." 

That  convention  closed  with  a  resolution  declaring: 
"Abraham  Lincoln  is  the  first  choice  of  the  Republican 
party  of  Illinois  for  the  presidency,"  and  instructing  the 


58  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

delegates  to  the  Chicago  convention  to  use  all  honoraWe 
means  to  secure  his  nomination  and  to  cast  the  vote  of 
the  state  as   a  unit  for  him. 

Thus  was  the  movement  started  that  should  make 
Abraham  Lincoln,  the  flat-boatman,  the  rail  splitter,  the 
standard-bearer  of  the  Republican  party  in  the  fateful 
election  of  iS6o. 

The  convention  met  at  Chicago  on  the  i6th  of  Mav  in 
a  great  wigwam  at  the  corner  of  Lake  and  Market 
Streets.  William  H.  Seward  of  New  York  was  the  rep- 
resentative man  of  the  East  for  the  highest  office  in  the 
gift  of  the  nation,  at  the  hands  of  the  Republican  party. 
Favorite  sons  of  other  states  received  complimentary  votes 
on  the  first  ballot. 

On  the  third  ballot  ]Mr.  Lincoln  had  distanced  all 
competitors  and  was  within  1-^2  votes  of  the  nomina- 
tion. Those  votes  were  quickly  given  and  the  nom- 
ination was  made  unanimous.  When  the  dispatch  an- 
nouncing his  nomination  was  handed  him,  at  Spring- 
field, he  started  home  with  it,  saying: 

' 'Gentlemen,  there  is  a  little  short  woman  at  our  house 
who  is  probably  more  interested  in  this  dispatch  than  I 
am,  and  if  you  w  ill  excuse  me  I  will  take  it  up  and  let 
her  see  it." 

The  formal  letters  of  notification  and  acceptance  were 
passed.  The  Democrats  were  divided,  as  !^Ir.  Lincoln  had 
foreseen.  His  Freeport  question  had  rent  them  in  twain. 
Douglas  and  Breckenridge  were  their  standard  bearers, 
and  the  result  was  not  difficult  to  foresee.  On  the  6th 
of  November,  the  nation  recorded  its  verdict.     Abraham 


William  H.  Seward. 
Born  1801.        Died  1872. 


6o  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Lincoln  was  President-elect  of  the  United  States.  Be- 
tween November  and  March  there  was  much  to  be  done. 
His  cabinet  was  to  be  chosen,  numerous  offices  were  to 
be  filled,  his  private  affairs  were  to  be  wound  up.  The 
magnanimity  of  his  mind  was  soon  made  apparent  in  his 
willingness  to  appoint  his  opponents  to  the  highest 
offices  within  his  gift. 

He  offered  the  Secretaryship  of  the  Treasury  to  Mr. 
Guthrie  of  Kentucky;  another  secretaryship  was  ten- 
dered to  Mr.  Gilmer  of  North  Carolina;  Stephens  of 
Georgia  was  also  approached.  He  saw,  as  few  party 
men  could  see,  the  injustice  and  impolicy  of  admin- 
istering the  government  in  the  interest  of  a  party  that 
had  no  existence  in  the  southern  states.  Though 
he  was  a  conqueror,  he  was  a  conciliator,  and  if  grave 
trouble  was  to  be  safely  avoided,  he  would  leave  no  stone 
unturned  to  avoid  it. 

Without  jealousy  or  fear,  he  intrusted  the  foremost 
places  in  his  cabinet  to  his  late  political  rivals,  utterly 
oblivious  to  the  suggestion  that  they  might  outshine  or 
supplant  him. 

Seward,  the  accomplished,  eloquent  statesman  from 
New  York,  he  made  his  Secretary  of  State,  Chase 
his  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Bates  his  Attorney  Gen- 
eral. 

Cameron  and  Smith  he  appointed  in  deference  to 
the  suggestions  of  his  friends,  for  services  rendered, 
as  alleged,  in  securing  his  nomination.  Hundreds  of 
office  seekers  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Springfield  and 
made  life   a  burden   to    him.       He    listened    to    their 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  6l 

plea,  regaled  them  with  an  apposite  story  and  sent  them 
on  their  way.  Many  of  his  old-time  friends  hoped  to  reap 
the  reward  of  their  friendship  in  appointment  to  office, 
and  felt  hardly  toward  him  that  their  cases  were  not  al- 
ways favorably  considered.  But  he  would  not  have  it 
said  that  he  used  his  public  position  in  the  interest  of  his 
friends.  Then  too,  old  friends  and  old  scenes  must  be 
visited  that  he  might  say  good-bye,  for  his  long  absence, 
from  the  region  where  he  had  grown  to  manhood.  He 
made  a  tender  farewell  visit  to  his  old  step-mother,  who 
had  been  a  mother  indeed.  He  visited  New  Salem  and 
shook  hands  wdth  thousands  of  his  old  friends,  whom  he 
had  known  in  all  the  phases  of  his  career. 

The  framing  of  his  policy  and  the  writing  of  his  in- 
augural address  were  absorbing  cares.  As  he  looked  out 
on  the  alarming  situation  in  the  South  and  the  imbecility 
and  knavery  that  was  being  manifested  in  Washington, 
his  forced  inactivity  till  March  was  like  a  consuming 
canker.  Southern  States  were  seceding  and  appropriat- 
ing national  property.  The  arsenals  of  the  North  were 
being  looted  for  the  benefit  of  the  South,  by  order  of  the 
Secretary  of  War.  Frantic  efforts  were  being  made  in 
Congress  to  concoct  some  scheme  of  compromise  that 
would  save  the  union,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  was  implored  to, 
speak  some  word,  or  offer  some  suggestion  as  to  his  poli- 
cy, that  would  help  the  situation.  To  such  as  sought  to 
know  his  position,  he  referred  them  to  his  record. 

To  the  committee  of  thirty-three  in  the  House  he  said, 
"Entertain  no  compromise  in  regard  to  the  extension  of 
slavery."  To  Mr.  Washburnehe  said  on  this  point: 


62 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


"Hold  firm,  as  with  a  chain  of  steel." 
On  Dec.  1 7th,  he  wrote  to  ThurlowWeed  that  "no  state 
can  in  any  way,  lawfully,  get  out  of  the  union  without 


President  Lincoln  luid  his  Cabinet. 


the  consent  of  the  others,"  and,  that  "it  is  the  duty  of  the 
president  and  other  government  functionaries  to  run  the 
machine  as  it  is."    To  Mr.  Washburne  he  wrote,  for  the 


ABRAHAM  LLNCOLN.  63 

advice  of  General  Scott,  "Please  present  my  respects  to 
the  General  and  tell  him,  confidentially,  that  I  shall  be 
obliged  to  him  to  be  as  well  prepared  as  he  can  to  either 
hold,  or  retake  the  forts,  as  the  case  may  require,  at  and 
after  the  inauguration."  The  summary  way  in  which  Gen- 
eral Jackson  had  dealt  with  the  nullifiers  of  1830  and  '32 
was  a  frequent  study  during  these  months  of  waiting. 

At  length  the  time  came  for  his  departure  to  the  scene 
of  his  labors.  With  his  mind  fully  made  up,  his  cabinet 
chosen,  his  inaugural  written,  he  bade  farewell  to  his  old 
partner,  as  we  have  related.  Judge  Gillespie,  an  old 
friend,  called  to  say  good-bye  and  told  him  he  believed 
it  would  do  him  good  to  get  to  Washington. 

"I  know  it  will,"  Lincoln  replied,  "I  only  wish  I  could 
have  got  there  to  lock  the  door  before  the  horse  was  stol- 
en.    But  when  I  get  to  the  spot  I  can  find  the  tracks." 

With  tender  farewell  he  addressed  the  citizens  of  Spring- 
field, commending  them  to  the  Divine  care,  and  begging 
their  prayers  on  his  behalf. 

At  different  stages  on  the  route  he  stated  his  position 
with  a  clearness  that  admitted  no  uncertainty,  that  he 
purposed  to  rule  justly,  respecting  the  rights  of  all  under 
the  Constitution,  maintaining  the  rights  and  possessions 
of  the  nation  iu  all  its  parts. 

Assassins  lay  in  wait  for  him,  but  he  avoided  them 
and  reached  the  Capital  in  safety  more  than  a  week  be- 
fore the  inauguration.  On  the  aytli  of  February,  when 
waited  upon  by  the  mayor  and  common  council  of  Wash- 
ington, he  assured  them,  and  the  South  through  them, 
that  he  had  no  disposition  to  treat  them  in  any  other  way 


64 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


than  as  neighbors,  and  that  he  had  no  disposition  to  with- 
hold from  them  any  constitutional  rights.  They  should 
all  have  their  rights  under  the  Constitution,  not  grudg- 
ingly, but  fully  and  fairly. 

No  more  fatefnl  or  solemn  inauguration  of  a  president 
ever  took  place  than  that  of  Abraham  Lincoln  on  the  4th 

of  March,  1861.  As 
he  stood  before  the 
Capitol,  serene,  brave, 
true  to  the  noble  in- 
stincts of  his  nature, 
and  the  promise  of 
his  life,  resolutely  set 
on  upholding  free- 
dom and  the  Consti- 
tution, there  surged 
about  him  a  swarm 
of  traitors  and  con- 
spirators, whose  pur- 
poses were  but  thin- 
ly concealed.  Presi- 
dent Buchanan  was 
there,  whose  irreso- 
luteness  had  permitted  secession  to  get  good  headway. 
Chief-Justice  Taney  and  his  associates  were  there,  whose 
perverse  ingenuity  had  formulated  the  Dred  Scott  De- 
cision. Generals  soon  to  be  conspicuous  in  the  ranks  of 
the  rebel  army,  surrounded  him.  Seward,  the  great  rival 
whom  he  had  distanced,  stood  near.  Chase,  Scott,  Sum- 
ner and  Wade, who  should  hold  up  his  hands  in  the  day  of 


James  Buchanan.    Fifteenth  President 
Born  1791.     Died  1868. 


ABRAHA^I  LINCOLN.  65 

battle  were  there,  and  Douglas  was  holding  the  president's 
hat, though  the  ambition  of  his  life  had  been  overthrown 
by  the  man  who  was  now  the  "observed  of  all  observers." 
He  was  solicitous  for  the  safety  and  convenience  of  the 
new  president  and  defiant  to  the  enemies  of  the  union. 

The  great  inaugural  was  but  the  fuller  statement  of  the 
views  to  which  he  had  given  expression  in  the  period 
since  his  election.  It  was  conciliatory,  but  clear  and  firm. 
He  said,  "I  have  no  purpose  directly,  or  indirectly,  to  in- 
terfere with  the  institution  of  slaver}'-  in  the  states  w^here 
it  now  exists.  I  believe  I  have  no  lawful  right  to  do  so, 
and  I  have  no  inclination  to  do  so."  "I  hold  that  in 
contemplation  of  universal  law  and  of  the  Constitution 
the  union  of  the  states  is  perpetual.  I  shall  take  care, 
as  the  Constitution  itself  expressly  enjoins  upon  me, 
that  the  laws  of  the  union  be  faithfully  executed  in  all 
the  states.  In  doing  this  there  need  be  no  blood-shed 
or  violence  and  there  shall  be  none  unless  it  is  forced 
upon  the  national  authority." 

He  pointed  out  the  way  of  curing  dissatisfaction  with 
the  form  of  government, by  amending  it,  or  by  their  rev- 
olutionary right  to  dismember  or  overthrow  it.  Then  he 
counseled  patience  in  the  consideraton  of  sources  of  dis- 
satisfaction, declaring  that  intelligent  patriotism  and 
Christianity  and  a  firm  reliance  on  Him  who  has  never 
yet  forsaken  this  favored  land,  are  still  competent  to  ad- 
just, in  the  best  way,  all  our  present  difficulties.  Then, 
as  if  clothed  with  the  full  dignitv  of  his  maoisterial  of- 
fice,  he  pronounced  these  solemn  and  beautiful  sentences, 
"In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow  countrj-men,  and 


66  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

not  in  mine,  are  the  momentous  issues  of  civil  war.  The 
government  will  not  assail  you.  You  can  have  no  con- 
flict without  being  yourselves  the  aggressors.  You  have 
no  oath  registered  in  heaven  to  destroy  the  government, 
while  I  have  the  most  solemn  one  to  preserve,  protect, 
and  defend  it.  I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies 
but  friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion 
may  have  strained,  it  will  not  break  our  bonds  of  affect- 
ion. The  mystic  chords  of  memory,  stretching  from 
every  battle-field  and  patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart 
and  hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell 
the  chorus  of  the  union,  when  again  touched,  as  surely 
they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature."  But 
these  gentle  words  were  lost  upon  the  men  who  had  al- 
ready committed  themselves  to  the  disruption  of  the 
union  and  the  founding  of  a  Confederacy,  of  which  the 
institution  of  slavery  should  be  the  chief  corner  stone. 

On  the  evening  of  the  4th  of  March,  Mr.  Lincoln  en- 
tered the  White  House,  that  should  be  his  home  for  the 
remainder  of  his  days.  There,  was  sumptuousness  and 
elegance  to  which  he  was  not  accustomed,  formality  and 
etiquette,  that  in  his  quiet  life  he  had  not  practiced,  but 
to  all  he  adjusted  himself  with  that  simple  grace  that 
marked  the  American  citizen,  born  to  the  purple  and  des- 
tined to  command. 

He  found  the  government  in  confusion,  seven  states  in 
secession  and  a  rebel  government  already  organized  at 
Montg-omerv,  Alabama.  The  Southern  heart  had  been 
fired  and  her  young  men  were  in  arms. 

He  nominated  his  cabinet  and  set   himself  earnestly 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


67 


at  work  upon  the  tasks  that  were  forced  upon  him. 
Though  his  counselors  were  able  men,  famed  for  leader- 
ship, they  w^ere  only  his  advisers.  He  was  their  chief, 
President  of  the  Nation  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 


The  Bombardment  of  Ft.  Sumter,  April  12,  1861. 

army  and  navy  of  the  United  States.  If  any  of  them 
supposed  that  he  would  divide  that  responsibility  or  yield 
to  their  dictation  they  were  soon,  kindly  but  firmly,  dis- 
abused. Some  of  the  Southern  leaders  thought  that 
there  would  be  no  war,  that  the  North  was  divided  and 
that  the  Northern  people  would  not  fight.     There  was 


68  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

some  encouragement  to  this  idea,  but  not  in  the  calm, 
resolute  purpose  of  the  new  President. 

On  the  i5tli  of  April,  the  President  issued  his  first  call 
for  seventy-five  thousand  volunteers  to  put  down  the  re- 
bellion. Ft.  Sumter  had  been  attacked  and  had  fallen. 
One  by  one  the  rebel  leaders  had  slunk  away  from  the 
scene  of  their  treason,  Breckinridge  among  the  last.  The 
war  was  forced  upon  him.  Patriotic  de\otion  to  the 
Union  effaced  all  differences.  Half  a  million  of  men 
responded  to  the  President's  call.  Congress  voted  men 
and  money  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war.  The  times 
were  inauspicious.  The  best  generals  of  the  country  were 
in  the  rebel  service.  Arms,  ammunition,  and  accoutre- 
ments, had  been  seized,  and  foreign  sympathies,  and  hos- 
tile diplomacy,  raised  grave  problems  for  the  new  exec- 
utive; but  he  faltered  not.  Disasters  came,  incompetent 
commanders  and  inadequate  preparations  demonstrated 
that  war  would  be  discouraging  and  tedious.  Still,  he 
did  not  falter.  He  succeeded  in  holding  ^Maryland,  Ken- 
tucky and  IMissouri  in  the  union,  and  in  dividing  Virgin- 
ia and  holding  West  Virginia  loyal. 

When  Congress  met  in  Dec,  1861,  in  his  message  on 
the  slavery  question,  he  said,  "I  have  adhered  to  the  act 
of  Congress  freeing  persons  held  to  service  used  for  in- 
surrectionary purposes."  In  relation  to  the  emancipa- 
tion and  arming  of  the  negroes  he  said,  "The'maintenance 
of  the  integrity  of  the  union  is  the  primary  object  of  the 
contest.  The  union  must  be  preserved  and  all  indispen- 
sable means  must  be  employed.  We  should  not  be  in 
haste  to  determine  that  radical   and  extreme   measures, 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


69 


which  may  reach  the  loyal  as  well  as  the  disloyal,  are 
indispensable."  The  possibility  of  injustice  to  the  bor- 
der states  led  him  to  counsel  patience. 

During  this  session  of  Congress,  slavery  was  forbidden 
in  the  territories 
of  the  United 
States,and  Mr.  Lin- 
coln labored  with 
the  representatives 
of  the  border  states 
to  accept  the  idea 
of  gradual  com- 
pensated emanci- 
pation, which  they 
declined.  In  his 
second  message,  he 
urged  the  propo- 
sition upon  con- 
gress of  gradual 
and  compensated 
emancipation.  I 
cannot  forbear 
quoting  some  of 
his  words.     In  concluding  his  appeal  he  said: 

"The  dogmas  of  the  quiet  past  are  inadequate  to  the 
stormy  present.  The  occasion  is  piled  high  with  diffi- 
culty. We  must  rise  with  the  occasion.  As  our  case  is 
new,  so  w^e  must  think  anew,  and  act  anew.  We  must 
disenthral  ourselves,  and  then  we  shall  save  our  country. 
Fellow  citizens,  we  cannot  escape  history!     We  of  this 


Edwin  M.  Stanton,  Secretary  of  War. 
Born  1814.     Died  1S69. 


70  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

congress  and  this  administration,  will  be  remembered  in 
spite  of  ourselves.  No  personal  significance  or  insignifi- 
cance can  spare  one  or  another  of  us.  The  fiery  trial 
through  which  we  pass  will  light  us  down  in  honor  or 
dishonor  to  the  last  veneration.  We  sav  we  are  for  the 
Union.  The  world  will  not  forget  that  we  say  this.  We 
know  how  to  save  the  Union.  The  world  knows  we  do 
know  how  to  save  it.  We,  even  we,  here  hold  the  power 
and  bear  the  responsibility.  In  giving  freedom  to  the  slave 
we  assure  freedom  to  the  free,  honorable  alike  in  what 
we  give  and  what  we  preserve.  We  shall  nobly  save  or 
meanly  lose  the  last  best  hope  of  earth.  Other  means 
may  succeed;  this  could  not  fail.  The  way  is  plain, 
peaceful,  generous,  just— a  way  which  if  followed,  the 
world  will  forever  applaud  and  God  must  forever  bless." 
His  plan,  so  earnestly  and  eloquently  presented,  re- 
sulted in  no  action.  The  matter  pressed  upon  his  mind 
until,  on  his  own  responsibility,  he  issued  his  proclama- 
tion of  warmng,  his  own  magisterial  act,  on  Sept.  22, 
1862,  advising  the  states  in  rebellion  that  if  they  did  not 
return  to  loyalty  by  January,  1863,  he  would  issue  a 
proclamation  emancipating  their  slaves.  Januan.'  came, 
and  with  it  the  most  momentous  document  in  the  history 
of  the  country,  wherein  the  names  of  the  states  in  rebel- 
lion were  cited;  and  then,  by  virtue  of  his  power  as  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
Army  and  Navy,  he  ordered  and  declared  that  "all  per- 
sons held  as  slaves  within  said  designated  states  and  parts 
of  states,  are.and  henceforward  shall  be,  free,"  and  that 
"the  Executive  Government  of  the  United  States,  includ- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  71 

ing  the  military  and  naval  authorities  thereof,  will  recog- 
nize and  maintain  the  freedom  of  said  persons." 

Upon  this  act,  sincerely  believed  to  be  an  act  of  jus- 
tice warranted  by  the  constitution,  upon  military  neces- 
sity, he  invoked,  "the  considerate  judgment  of  mankind 
and  the  gracious  favor  of  Almighty  God." 

It  was  the  crowning  act  of  his  career.  The  moment 
of  destiny  had  come  and  found  him  ready.  The  promise 
of  his  young  manhood,  made  amid  the  slave  scenes  of 
New  Orleans,  "If  I  ever  get  a  chance  to  hit  Slavery  I'll 
hit  it  hard,"  was  fulfilled.  Henceforth,  he  is  Lincoln 
the  Emancipator! 

Supplementary  legislation  gave  full  effect  to  the  pur- 
pose of  this  great  document,  reaching  to  the  slaves  in  bor- 
der states  and  in  sections  under  the  control  of  the  Union. 
The  tide  of  battle  turned  in  favor  of  the  Union,  and  ere 
the  close  of  his  term  the  purposes  for  which  he  had  gone 
from  Springfield  to  Washington  were  well-nigh  accom- 
plished. Through  it  all,  he  was  the  masterful  leader, 
bearing  his  own  burden;  resting  his  often  breaking  heart 
and  burdened  mind  with  the  wit  and  humor  that  had  al- 
ways been  so  restful  to  him;  bearing  with  patience  the 
mistakes  and  jealousies  and  malice  of  men;  never  falter- 
ing in  his  steady  course;  wisely  avoiding  entanglement 
with  foreign  nations  till  our  crisis  should  be  passed;  prac- 
ticing humanity  and  kindness  that  sterner  men  thought 
subversive  of  discipline;  approachable  to  all  who  had  an 
errand,  or  who  needed  to  invoke  the  great,  strong,  kind- 
hearted  President.  He  came  down  to  the  close  of  his 
first  term  of  oflBce  to  be  triumphantly   re-elected,  and  to 


72 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


inaugurate  the  work  of  reconstruction,  for  he  who  saved 
the  Union  was,  in  the  judgment  of  the  people,  the  one 
who  might  most  effectually  restore  it  to  its  old  form,  free 

from   the   curse 


f"  "  of    slavery,     to 

'  ""  the  condition  of 

a  great  homo- 
geneous c  o  m- 
mon-wealth,  the 
hoine  of  happi- 
ness and  thrift 
and  freedom. 
He  began  his 
work  with  his 
old  kind,  con- 
ciliatory, yet 
self-confident, 
tact,  and  just  as 
he  had  begun, 
the  bullet  of  an 
assassin  reinov- 
ed  him  from  la- 
bor to  reward. 
That  assassina- 
tion conferred  on  him  the  crown  of  martyrdom.  If  he 
had  survived,  he  might  have  been  Moses  and  Joshua  in 
one.     It  was  enough  that   he  w^as  Moses. 

Let  us  close  with  the  words  of  Owen  Lovejoy,  spoken 
when  emancipation  resolutions  were  under  consideration 
and  Mr.  Crittenden  had  said,  "I  have  a  niche  for  Abraham 


Ford's  Theatre,  Washington,  where  Lincoln  was  shot 
by  John  Wilkes  Booth,  April  14,  1865. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  73 

Lincoln."  Mr.  Lovejoy  exclaimed,"!,  too,  have  a  niche 
for  Abraham  Lincoln, but  it  is  in  Freedom's  holy  fame  and 
not  in  the  blood  besmeared  temple  of  human  bondage;  not 
surrounded  by  slaves,  fetters  and  chains,  but  with  the 
svmbols  of  freedom;  not  dark  with  bondage  but  radiant 
with  the  light  of  liberty.  In  that  niche  he  shall  stand 
proudly,  nobly,  gloriously,  with  shattered  fetters  and 
broken  chains  and  slave  whips   at  his  feet. 

"If  Abraham  Lincohi  pursues  the  path  evidently  point- 
ed out  for  him  in  the  Providence  of  God,  as  I  believe 
he  will,  then  he  will  occupy  the  proud  position  I  have 
indicated.  That  is  a  fame  w^orth  living  for,  aye,  more, 
tliat  is  a  fame  worth  dying  for,  though  that  death  led 
through  the  blood  of  Gethsemane  and  the  agony  of  the 
accursed  tree.  That  is  a  fame  which  has  glory,  honor 
and  immortality  and  eternal  life. 

"Let  Abraham  Lincoln  make  himself,  as  I  trust  he 
will,  the  Emancipator,  the  Liberator,  as  he  has  the 
opportunity  of  doing,  and  his  name  shall  be  not  only  en- 
rolled in  this  earthly  temple,  but  it  will  be  traced  on  the 
living  stones  of  the  temple  which  rears  its  head  amid  the' 
thrones  and  hierarchies  of  heaven,  whose  top  stone  is  to 
be  brought  in  with  shouting  of  'Grace  unto  it.'" 

Mr.  Lovejoy's  confidence  was  not  in  vain. 


74  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN, 


g^ita^gfe^ 


ANECDOTES  AND  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  LINCOLN. 

LINCOLN'S   ADDRESS   AT   SPRINGFIELD   BEFORE   GOING 
TO    HIS   INAUGURATION. 

"Then  came  the  central  incident  of  the  morning.  Once 
more  the  bell  gave  notice  of  starting;  but  as  the  conduc- 
tor paused  with  his  hands  lifted  to  the  bell-rope,  ]\Ir.  Lin- 
coln appeared  on  the  platform  of  the  car,  and  raised  his 
hand  to  command  attention.  The  bystanders  bared  their 
heads  to  the  falling  snow-flakes,  and  standing  thus  his 
neighbors  heard  his  voice  for  the  last  time,  in  the  city  of 
his  home,  in  a  farewell  address  so  chaste  and  pathetic 
that  it  reads  as  if  he  already  felt  the  tragic  shadow  of 
forecasting  fate: 

"  ']\Iy  Friends:  No  one  not  in  my  situation  can  ap- 
preciate my  feeling  of  sadness  at  this  parting.  To  this 
place  and  the  kindness  of  these  people  I  owe  everything. 
Here  I  have  lived  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  have  passed 
from  a  young  to  an  old  man.  Here  my  children  have 
been  born,  and  one  is  buried.  I  now  leave,  not  knowing 
when,  or  whether  I  may  ever  return,  with  a  task  before 
me  greater  than  that  which  rested  upon  Washington. 
Without  the  assistance  of  that  Divine  Being  who  ever  at- 
tended him,  I  cannot  succeed.     With  that  assistance  I 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


75 


cannot  fail.     Trusting  in  Him,  who  can  go  with  me,  and 
remain  wnth  you,  and  be  ever^'where  for  good,  let  us  con- 
fidently hope  that  all  will  yet  be  well.    To  His  care  com- 
mending you,  as  I 
hope  in  your  pray- 
ers you  will   com- 
mend   me,    I    bid.^ 
you    an    affection- 
ate   farewell.'  '' — 
Century      Maga- 
zine. 

MONEY  AND  SFXF- 
ISHNESS. 

The  following 
story  was  told  by 
the  Hon.  Schuyler 
Colfax,  who  was 
present  at  the  in- 
terview: 

"In  1862,  the 
people  of  New 
York  City  were 
greatly     troubled, 

(some  of  them)  for  fear  of  a  bombardment  of  the 
city  by  the  confederate  navy.  Public  meetings  were 
held  to  discuss  the  situation,  and  the  matter  at  last  re- 
sulted in  the  appointment  of  a  delegation  of  fifty  men 
who  represented,  in  their  own  right,  two  hundred  millions 
of  money. 


Robert  T.  Lincoln.  Son  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
and  Ex-Secretarv  of  War. 


76  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

"These  millionaires  were  to  call  on  the  President  and 

induce  him  to  send  a  gunboat  or  a  warship  to  protect  the 

city. 

"When  they  called  they  were  impressively  introduced, 

and  the  fact   that' they  owned  two  hundred  millions  of 

money  was  made  especially  prominent. 

"The  chairman  of  the  delegation  made  a  very  earnest 
appeal  for  protection,  and  he  also  emphasized  the  fact  that 
they  owned  two  hundred  million  dollars  worth  of  prop- 
erty. ■ 

"In  his  reply  Lincoln  stated  that  he  would  be  glad  to 

afford  them  the  necessary  protection,  but  the  fact  was 
that  under  the  circumstances  it  was  impossible  for  him  to 
furnish  them  even  a  gunboat,  all  the  boats  being  in  use 
and  the  credit  of  the  government  at  low  ebb.  'But,' 
said  he,  'if  I  were  worth  half  as  much  as  you  gentlemen 
are,  and  were  as  badly  frightened  as  you  are,  I  would 
build  a  gunboat  and  give  it  to  the  government  for  the 
protection  of  my  own  city.' 

"  'The  wise  men  of  Gotham'  went  away,  realizing  that 
even  the  money  in  their  pockets  should  be  one  of  the  fac- 
tors of  the  war." 

LINCOLN    AND   THR   OFFICE   SEEKERS. 

A  delegation  once  waited  upon  Lincoln  to  ask  for  the 
appointment  of  a  certain  party  as  Commissioner  to  the 
Sandwich  Islands. 

They  argued  their  case  earnestly,  and  at  last  made  a 
strong  point  of  the  fact  that  the  applicant  was  in  poor 
health,  and  a  residence  in  that  climate  would  be  of  great 
benefit  to  him. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


n 


The  President,  however,  closed  the  interview  with  the 
following  remark: 

"Gentlemen,  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  there  are  eight 
other  applicants  for  that  place,  and  they  are  all  sicker 
than  your  ?nan  is^ 


The  Battle  or  Bull  Run,  the  First  Great  Battle  of  the  Civil  War,  1861. 


LOYALTY   TO    FRIENDS. 

The  mildness  of  the  man,  and  the  tenderness  of  feeling 
hidden  under  a  rugged  exterior,  were  well  known  char- 
acteristics of  the  martyred  President.  But  there  were 
times  when  righteous  indignation  blazed  in  his  eyes, 
and  his  voice  was  raised  in  defense  of  the  cause  which 
he  had  espoused. 

The  pressure  of  office  seekers  often  annoyed  him  al- 
most beyond  endurance.  During  the  first  few  months  of 
the  administration,  the  frantic  horde  pursued  him  day 


78  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

and  night.  It  jarred  upon  his  patriotism  to  see  men  so 
eager  for  position  and  pelf  when  the  country  was  just 
entering  upon  the  awful  fight  for  life,  and  not  only  this, 
but  unpardonable  selfishness  was  often  revealed. 

A  delegation  of  California  Republicans  called  on  him 
at  one  time  with  a  list  of  proposals  covering  not  only  the 
principal  offices  of  that  state,  but  indeed  of  the  whole 
Pacific  coast. 

Their  program  was  opposed  in  part  by  Senator  Baker, 
who  naturally  claimed  the  right  to  be  consulted  respect- 
ing the  patronage  of  his  section  of  the  Union. 

After  considerable  discussion  some  of  the  Californians, 
in  their  eagerness  to  carry  their  point,  went  so  far  as  to 
assail  the  public  and  private  character  of  Senator  Baker, 
who  was  an  honored  friend  of  Lincoln's. 

The  anger  of  the  President  was  instantly  aroused,  and 
he  exhibited  such  vehemence  and  intensity  that  the  party 
of  politicians  fairly  quailed  before  him.  His  wrath  was 
terrifying  when  he  put  his  foot  down,  and  declared  that 
Senator  Baker  was  his  friend,  and  that  no  man  could  as- 
sail him  with  impunity — if  they  hoped  to  gain  anything 
by  such  nefarious  conduct  they  were  greatly  mistaken. 

The  result  was  that  the  charges  against  Senator  Baker 
were  retracted  and  ample  apologies  made, and  such  a  dis- 
position was  made  of  the  offices  on  the  coast  as  satisfied 
Mr.  Baker,  while  the  Californians  were  allowed  to  have 
their  own  way  to  a  great  extent  in  their  own  state. 

DANCE   AT   MIDNIGHT — HOW   LINCOLN   RECEIVED    THE 
NEWS   FROM   GETTYSBURG. 

"One  evening  at  a  crowded  party  given  by  Senator 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


79 


Dixon,  I  was  forced  by  the  press  into  a  corner  and  on 
looking  around,  found  my  next  neighbor  was  Secretary 
Stanton.  By-and-by  Dixon  came  along  and  spying  us 
said:    'Stanton,    tell    him    the   scene  between   old    Abe 


The  Battle  of  Gettysburg,  from  the  Painting  by  Wenderoth. 

and  you  the  night  of  the   battle  of  Gettysburg. '      Stan- 
ton then  related  the  following: 

"Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  excessively  solicitous  about  the 
result  of  that  battle.  It  was  known  that  Lee  had  crossed 
into  Pennsylvania,  threatening  Washington,  and  that  a 
battle  had  commenced  near  Gettysburg,  upon  which,  in 
all  probability,  the  fate  of  Washington  and  the  issue  of 
the  war  depended.  The  telegraphic  wires  ran  into  the 
War  Department  and  dispatches  had  been  received  of  the 


8o  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

first  day's  fight,  which  showed  how  desperate  was  the 
attack,  the  stubbornness  of  the  defense,  and  that  the  re- 
sult was  indecisive.  All  that  day  and  the  next  Mr.  Lin- 
coln was  in  an  agony  of  anxiety,  running  over,  as  was 
his  wont,  to  the  War  Office  to  ascertain  for  himself  the 
latest  news  instead  of  waiting  for  the  reports  to  be  sent 
him  by  his  subordinates.  Then  came  a  long  interval 
when  nothing  was  heard  from  ]\Ieade,  and  the  President 
was  wrought  up  to  an  intense  pitch  of  excitement. 

"Night  came  on,and  Stanton,  seeing  the  President  worn 
out  with  care  and  anxiety,  persuaded  him  to  return  to 
the  White  House,  promising  if  anything  came  over  the 
wires  during  the  night  to  give  him  immediate  informa- 
tion. At  last,  toward  midnight,  came  the  electric  flash 
of  that  great  victory  which  saved  the  Union. 

"Stanton  seized  the  dispatch  and  ran  as  fast  as  he  could 
to  the  Executive  Mansion,  up  the  stairs,  and  knocked  at 
the  room  wmere  the  President  was  catching  a  fitful  slum- 
ber. 

'"Who  is  there?'  he  heard  in  the  voice  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln. 

"'Stanton.' 

"The  door  was  opened,  and  ]\Ir. Lincoln  appeared  with 
a  light  in  his  hand,  peering  through  the  crack  of  the 
door.  Before  Stanton,  who  was  out  of  breath,  could  say 
a  word  the  President,  who  had  caught  with  unerring  in- 
stinct the  expression  of  his  face,  gave  a  shout  of  exulta- 
tion, grabbed  him  with  both  arms  around  the  waist,  and 
danced  him  around  the  chamber  until  they  were  both 
exhausted. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  8r 

"They  then  sat  down  npon  a  trunk,  and  the  President, 
who  was  still  in  his  nightdress,  read  over  and  over  again 
the  telegram,  and  then  discussed  wdth  him  the  probabili- 
ties of  the  future  and  the  results  of  the  victory,  until  the 
day  dawned. 

"Such  a  scene  at  midnight  between  two  of  the  greatest 
Americans  whom  this  generation  had  produced,  to  whom 
all  wdse  Providence  had  committed  in  largest  measure 
the  fate  of  Republican  liberty  in  this  Western  world,  may 
not  afford  a  subject  for  the  loftiest  conceptions  of  the 
poet  or  the  painter,  but  more  than  any  other  incident 
within  my  knowledge  it  shows  the  human  nature  of 
these  two  great  men,  and  brings  them  home  to  the  hearts 
and  the  hearthstones  of  the  plain  people  of  whom  Mr. 
Lincoln  was,  on  whom  he  depended,  and  whom  he  loved. 

"It  shows  him  brooding  all  through  those  three  awful 
days,  with  an  anxiety  akin  to  agony  which  no  one  could 
share — worn  and  wear^'  with  the  long  and  doubtful  con- 
flict  between  hope  and  fear — treading  the  wnne-press  for 
his  people  alone.  And  at  last  when  the  lightning  flash 
had  lifted  the  dark  cloud,  dancing  like  a  schoolboy  in  the 
ecstasy  of  delight  and  exhibiting  a  touch  of  that  human 
nature  which  makes  all  the  world  akin. 

"As  I  look  back  over  the  intervening  years  to  the  great 
men  and  great  events  of  those  historic  days,  his  figure 
rises  before  my  memory  the  grandest  and  most  majestic 
of  them  all.  There  w^ere  giants  in  those  days,  but  he 
tow^ered  above  them  like  Popocatepetl  or  Chimborazo. 
He  was  great  in  character,  in  intellect,  in  wisdom,  in 
tact,  in  council,  in  speech,  in  heart,  in  person — in  every- 


82  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

thing." — Hon.    A.    H.    Brandege^    in    N.     Y.    Tribune. 

LINCOLN    AND    DOUGLAS. 

In  discussion  Lincoln  often  combined  wit  and  humor 

-in  such  a  way  tliat  it  made  his  opponent  ridiculous.     Mr, 

Douglas  was  often  the  victim  of  these  little  sallies  during 

the  great  debates  before  the  people  of  Illinois  in  the  year 

1858. 

In  relation  to  the  abolition  of  slavery,  Douglas  con- 
stantly argued  or  assumed  that  if  freedom  were  given  to 
the  slave,  it  would  be  followed  with  intermarriage  be- 
tween the  blacks  and  whites.  He  also  charged  that  the 
Republican  party  was  anxious  to  repeal  the  laws  of  Ill- 
inois which  prohibited  such  marriages.  At  last  Lincoln 
retorted  about  as  follows: 

"I  solemnly  protest  against  that  counterfeit  logic,which 
presumes  that  because  I  do  not  want  a  black  woman  for  a 
slave,  that  I  do  necessarily  want  her  for  a  wife — I  have 
no  fears  of  marrying  a  negro — it  requires  no  law^  to  pre- 
vent me  from  doing  it,  but  if  Judge  Douglas  needs  a  law 
of  that  sort  I  will  do  my  utmost  to  retain  the  enactment 
wdiich  forbids  the  marrying  of  white  people  with    ne- 


groes." 


PARDONS. 
Many  a  distressed  father  or  mother  found  help  in  ap- 
pealing to  Lincoln.  He  was  the  terror  of  his  generals, 
who  feared  that  by  excessive  use  of  the  pardoning  power 
he  would  destroy  the  discipline  of  the  army, and  Secretary 
Seward  was  more  than  indignant  on  many  occasions 
when  he  felt  that  the  President  trespassed  to  an  unwar- 
rantable extent  upon  his  own  domain. 


ABRAHAM  LLNCOLN. 


83 


\ 


Attorney  General  Bates,  who  was  a  \^irginian,once  ap- 
proached Lincoln  with  a  special  plea  in  behalf  of  a  young 
Virginian,  who  had  run  away  from  a  Union  father,  and 
enlisted  in  the  rebel  ranks.  He  had  been  q^iptured,  and 
was  then  held  as  a  prisoner 
of  war,  and  was  in  very  poor 
health. 

The  President  pondered 
on  the  matter  for  a  moment, 
and  then  replied:  "Bates,  I 
have  almost  a  parallel  case 
in  which  the  son  of  an  old 
friend  of  mine  ran  away  from 
his  home  in  Illinois  and  en- 
tered the  rebel  army. 

"The  young  fool  has  been 
captured,  and  his  poor  old 
father  has  appealed  to  me 
to  send  him  home,  promising  of  course,  to  keep  him 
there.  I  have  not  seen  my  way  clear  to  do  it,  but  if  you 
and  I  unite  our  influence  with  this  administration,  I  be- 
lieve we  can  manage  to  make  two  loyal  fathers  happy." 
And  he  did. 

Schuyler  Colfax  once  told  a  pathetic  story  of  going  to 
Lincoln  for  a  pardon  for  the  son  of  a  former  constituent. 

He  said  Lincoln  listened  to  the  story  with  his  usual 
patience,  although  he  was  even  then  tired  out  with  in- 
cessant calls  and  demands  upon  his  time,  and  then 
said:  "Some  of  my  generals  complain  that  I  impair  dis- 
cipline by  my  frequent  pardons  and  reprieves,  but  after 


Jefferson  Davis.  President  of  tlae 

Southern  Confederacv. 

Born  1806.  Died  l8vS9. 


84  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

a  hard  day's  work  it  rests  me^  if  I  can  find  some  excuse 
for  saving  a  poor  fellow's  life,  and  I  shall  go  to  bed  to- 
night.thinking  happily  of  the  joy  that  the  signing  of  my 
name  will  give  to  that  poor  fellow  and  his  family." 

And  with  the  tender  smile  which  so  often  illumined 
those  care-worn  features,  he  signed  his  name  and  saved 
that  life. 

XO    PARDON    FOR   SLAVE   STEALERS. 

The  great  clemency  of  the  Chief  Executive  was  so  well 
understood  that  many  demands  were  made  upon  him  for 
unworthy  objects.  The  Hon.  John  B.  Alley  says  that 
while  he  was  in  congress  a  petition  was  sent  him,  num- 
erously signed,  for  the  pardon  of  a  man  who  had  been 
con\-icted  of  illeo-al  slave  trading  as  the  commander  of  a 
vessel  engaged  in  kidnapping  the  natives  of  Africa,  and 
brinofino-  them  to  a  life  of  bondage  in  the  United  States. 

The  President  courteously  read  the  letter  and  petition, 
then  drawing  his  lank  figure  up  to  its  full  height,  he 
said:  ''I  believe  I  am  kindly  enough  to  pardon  almost 
any  criminal,  but  the  man  who  for  paltrv^  gain  can  rob 
Africa  of  her  children  to  sell  them  into  bondage  will  get 
no  pardon  from  me.  He  may  lie  in  jail  forever  so  far  as 
I  am  concerned."  Lincoln  evidently  thought  that  men 
of  this  stamp  could  serve  their  country  better  while  in 
jail,  than  they  cc  uld  if  they  had  their  freedom. 

A   FATHER'S   EXPERIENCE. 
A  Congressman  went    up  to  the    White    House  one 
morning  on  business,   and  saw  in   the  anteroom,  always 
crowded  with  people  in  those  days,  an  old  man,  crouched 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  05 

all  alone  in  a  corner,  crying  as  if  his  heart  would  break. 
As  such  a  sis^ht  was  bv  no  means  uncommon,  the  Con- 
gressman  passed  into  the  President's  room,  transacted 
his  business,  and  went  away. 

The  next  morning  he  was  obliged  again  to  go  to  the 
White  House,  and  he  saw  the  same  old  man  cr^-ing,  as 
before,  in  the  corner.  He  stopped,  and  said  to  him, 
"What's  the  matter  with  you  old  man?" 

The  old  man  told  him  the  story  of  his  son;  that  he 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Army  of  the  James — General  But- 
ler's arm\- — that  he  had  been  convicted  by  a  court-mar- 
tial of  an  outrageous  crime  and  sentenced  to  be  shot 
next  week ;  and  that  his  congressman  was  so  convinced 
of  the  convicted  man's  guilt  that  he  would  not  inter\-ene. 

"Well,"  said  Mr.  Alley,  "I  will  take  you  into  the  Ex- 
ecutive Chamber  after  I  have  finished  my  business,  and 
you  can  tell  Mr.  Lincoln  all  about  it." 

On  being  introduced  into  Mr.  Lincoln's  presence,  he 
was  accosted  with,  ''Well,  my  old  friend,  what  can  I  do 
for  yon  to-day?"  The  old  man  then  repeated  to  Mr. 
Lincoln  what  he  had  already  told  the  Congressman  in 
the  anteroom. 

A  cloud  of  sorrow  came  over  the  President's  face  as  he 
replied,  "I  am  sorry  to  say  I  can  do  nothing  for  you. 
Listen  to  this  telegram  received  from  General  Butler 
yesterdav:  'President  Lincoln,  I  pray  you  not  to  interfere 
with  the  courts-martial  of  the  army.  You  will  destroy 
all  discipline  among  our  soldiers. — B.  F.  BuTLER.'  " 

Ever}'  word  of  this  dispatch  seemed  like  the  death 
knell  of  despair  to  the  old  man's  newly  awakened  hopes. 


86  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Mr,  Lincoln  \vatched  his  grief  for  a  minnte,  and  then 
exclaimed,  "By  jingo,  Butler  or  no  Butler,  here  goes!" — 
writinq-  a  few  words  and  handins:  them  to  the  old  man. 
The  confidence  created  by  Mr.  Lincoln's  words  broke 
down  when  he  reatl  — "Job  Smith  is  not  to  be  shot  until 
further  orders  from  me. — Abraham  Lincoln." 

"Why,"  said  the  old  man,  "I  thought  it  was  to  be  a 
pardon;  but  you  say,  'not  to  be  sliot  till  further  orders,' 
and  von  may  order  him  to  be  sl:ot  next  week."  Mr. 
Lincoln  smiled  at  the  old  man's  fears,  and  replied,  "Well, 
my  old  friend,  I  see  you  are  not  very  well  acquainted 
with  me.  If  your  son  never  looks  on  death  till  further 
orders  come  from  me  to  shoot  him,  he  will  live  to  be  a 
ereat  deal  older  than  Methuselah." 

LINCOLN    AND    STEVENS. 

Thaddeus  Stevens,  who  so  often  criticised  Mr.  Lincoln 
very  severely  for  not  being  aggressive  and  destructive 
enough,  used  to  tell,  with  great  gusto,  this  story  of  his 
own  personal  experience. 

Mr.  Stevens  had  gone  with  an  old  lady  from  Lancaster 
County,  Pennsylvania  (his  district),  to  the  White  House, 
to  ask  the  pardon  of  her  son,  condemned  to  die  for  sleep- 
ing on  his  post.  The  President  suddenly  turned  upon 
his  cvnical  Pennsylvania  friend,  whom  he  knew  had  so 
often  assailed  him  for  excessive  lenity,  and  said,  "Now, 
Thad,  what  would  you  do  in  this  case  if  you  happened  to 
be  President?" 

IMr.  Steyens  knew  how  many  hundreds  of  his  constit- 
uents were  waiting  breathlessly  to  hear  the  result  of  that 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  87 

old  woman's  pilgrimage  to  Washington.  Of  course, 
congressmen  who  desired  to  be  re-elected  liked  to  carry 
out  the  desires  of  their  constituents.  Stevens  did  not 
relish  the  President's  home-thrust,  but  replied  that,  as  he 
knew  of  the  extenuating  circumstances,  he  would  cer- 
tainly pardon  him. 

''Well,  then,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  after  a  moment's 
writing  in  silence,  "here,  madam,  is  your  son's  pardon." 
Her  gratitude  filled  her  heart  to  overflowing,  and  it 
seemed  to  her  as  though  her  son  had  been  snatched  from 
the  gateway  of  the  grave. 

She  could  only  thank  the  President  with  her  tears  as 
she  passed  out,  but  when  she  and  Mr.  Stevens  had 
reached  the  outer  door  of  the  White  House  she  burst  out, 
excitedly  with  the  words,  "I  knew  it  was  a  lie!  I  knew 
it  was  a  lie!"  "What  do  you  mean?  "  asked  her  aston- 
ished companion.  "Why,  when  I  left  my  country  home 
in  old  Lancaster  yesterday,  the  neighbors  told  me  that  I 
would  find  that  T^.Ir.  Lincoln  was  an  ugly  man,  when 
he  is  really  the  handsomest  man  I  ever  saw  in  my  life." 
And  certainly,  when  sympathy  and  mercy  lightened  up 
those  rugged  features,  many  a  wife  and  mother  pleading 
for  his  intervention  had  reason  to  think  him  handsome, 
indeed. 

FREDERICK    DOUGLASS    OX    THE    INAUGURATION    OF 

LINCOLN. 

"I  was  present  at  the  inauguration  of  INIr.  Lincoln,  the 
4th  of  March,  1865.  I  felt  then  that  there  was  murder 
in  the  air,  and  I  kept  close  to  his  carriage  on  the  way  to 


88 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


the  Capitol,  for  I  felt  that  I  might  see  him  fall  that  day. 
It  was  a  vagiie  presentiment. 

"At  that  time  the   Confederate    cause  was  on  its  last 
legs,  as  it  were,  and  there  was  deep  feeling.     I  could  feel 

it  in  the  atmosphere  here,  I 
got  in  front  of  the  east  portico 
of  the  Capitol,  listened  to  his 
inaugural  address,  and  wit- 
nessed his  being  sworn  in  by 
Chief  Justice  Chase. 
J'        ?.'w  ^  "When    he  came  on  to  the 

^^H|v  -^^"^^p-.    A        steps  he  was  accompanied  by 
iflH^  Vice-President     Johnson.       In 

'^   -  looking  out  in  the   crowd  he 

saw   me  standing  near  by,  and 
I  could  see  he  was  pointing  me 
Frederick  Douglass.  out  to   Audrcw  Jolinson.     Mr. 

Johnson,  without  knowmg  perhaps  that  I  saw  the  move- 
ment, looked  quite  annoyed  that  his  attention  should  be 
called  in  that  direction.  So  I  got  a  peep  into  his  soul. 
As  soon  as  he  saw  me  looking  at  him,  suddenly  he  as- 
sumed rather  an  amicable  expression  of  countenance.  I 
felt  that,  whatever  else  the  man  might  be,  he  was  no 
friend  to  my  people. 

"I  heard  Mr.  Lincoln  deliver  this  wonderful  address.  It 
was  very  short;  but  he  answered  all  the  objections  raised 
to  his  prolonging  the  war  in  one  sentence — it  was  a  re- 
markable sentence. 

"'Fondly  do  we  hope,  profoundly  do  we  pray, that  this 
mighty  scourge  of  war  shall  soon  pass  away,  yet  if  God 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  89 

wills  it  to  continue  until  all  the  wealth  piled  up  by  two 
hundred  years  of  bondage  shall  have  been  wasted,  and 
each  drop  of  blood  drawn  by  the  lash  shall  have  been 
paid  for,  by  one  drawn  by  the  sword,  we  must  still  say, 
as  was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  the  judgments  of 
the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous  altogether.' 

"For  the  first  time  in  my  life,  and  I  suppose  the  first 
time  in  any  colored  man's  life,  I  attended  the  reception 
of  President  Lincoln  on  the  evening  of  the  inauguration. 
As  I  approached  the  door  I  was  seized  by  two  policemen 
and  forbidden  to  enter.  I  said  to  them  that  they  were 
mistaken  entirely  in  what  they  were  doing,  that  if  Mr. 
Lincoln  knew  that  I  was  at  the  door  he  would  order  my 
admission,  and  I  bolted  in  by  them.  On  the  inside  I 
was  taken  in  charge  of  two  other  policemen,  to  be  con- 
ducted as  I  supposed  to  the  President,  but  instead  of 
that  thev  were  conducting  me  out  of  the  window  on  a 
plank. 

"Oh,"  said  I,  "this  will  not  do,  gentlemen,"  and  as  a 
gentleman  was  passing  in  I  said  to  him,  "Just  say  to  ]\Ir. 
Lincoln  that  Fred.  Douglass  is  at  the  door." 

"He  rushed  in  to  President  Lincoln,  and  in  about 
half  a  minute  I  was  invited  into  the  East  Room  of 
the  White  House.  A  perfect  sea  of  beauty  and  ele- 
gance, too,  it  was.  The  ladies  were  in  very  fine  attire, 
and  Mrs.  Lincoln  was  standing  there.  I  could  not  have 
been  more  than  ten  feet  from  him  when  Mr.  Lincoln 
saw  me;  his  countenance  lighted  up,  and  he  said  in  a 
voice  which  was  heard  all  around:  'Here  comes  my 
friend  Douglass.'    As  I  approached  him  he  reached  out 


go  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

his  hand,  gave  a  cordial  shake,  and  said:  'Douglass,  I 
saw  you  in  the  crowd  to-day  listening  to  my  inaugural 
address.  There  is  no  man's  opinion  that  I  value  more 
than  yours:  what  do  you   think  of  it?'     I  said:     "Mr. 


The  Famous  Last  Dispatch  of  Lincoln  to  Grant  with  appended  statement  by 
Grant,  certifying  to  its  genuineness. 

Lincoln,  I  cannot  stop  here  to  talk  with  you,  as  there 
are  thousands  waiting  to  shake  you  by  the  hand;"  but  he 
said  ao-ain  a^ain:  'What  did  you  think  of  it?'  I  said: 
"Mr.  Lincoln,  it  was  a  sacred  effort,"  and  then  I  walked 
off.  'I  am  glad  you  liked  it,'  he  said.  That  was  the 
last  time  I  saw  him  to  speak  with  him." 

LINCOLN    AND   REPORTERS. 

Joseph  T^Iedill,  the  veteran  editor  of  the  Chicago  Trib- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  91 

une^  who  was  one  of  the  corps  of  reporters,  who  followed 
Lincoln  in  the  great  debates  with  Douglas,  tells  the  fol- 
lowing story: 

"You  will  remember  that  after  Lincoln  had  been  nom- 
inated he  was  asked  to  speak  at  Cooper  Union,  in  New 
York.  The  eastern  people  knew  nothing  about  him  and 
they  desired  to  see  and  hear  him.  Lincoln  prepared  a 
speech  and  gave  copies  to  quite  a  number  of  us,  request- 
ing that  we  study  it  carefully  and  make  such  corrections 
and  suggestions  as  we  saw  fit.  Well,  I  took  my  copy 
and  went  over  it  very  carefully,  and  finally  made  about 
foitv  chano^es.  The  others  to  whom  the  address  had 
been  submitted  were  equally  careful,  and  they  made  sev- 
eral amendments.  When  the  speech  was  finally  deliv- 
ered it  was  exactly  word  for  word  with  the  original  copy 
which  Lincoln  gave  us.  Not  a  change  suggested  had 
been  adopted.  I  never  knew  whether  Lincoln  intended 
to  play  a  joke  on  us,  or  whether  he  really  believed  that 
the  alterations  were  not  effective.  I  never  mentioned 
the  matter  to  him,  and  he  said  nothing  more  to  me.  To 
tell  the  truth,  I  was  not  exactly  proud  of  the  part  I 
played  in  the  matter.'.' 

Lincoln's  bravery. 

The  following  story  is  told  by  Gen.  Butler: 
"Lincoln  visited  my  department  twice  while  I  was  in 
command.  He  was  personally  a  very  brave  man,  and 
gave  me  the  worst  fright  of  my  life.  He  came  to  my 
head-quarters  and  said:  'General,  I  should  like  to  ride 
along  your  lines  and  see  them,  and  seethe  boys  and  how 


CO 


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CI--: 


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o    . 


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o 
o    . 


go 


G 


c 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


93 


they  are  situated  in  camp.'     I  said,  "Very  well,  we  will 
go  after  breakfast." 

"I  happened  to  have  a  very  tall,  easy-riding,  pacing 
horse,  and  as  the 
President  was  ra- 
ther long  legged, 
I  tendered  him  the 
use  of  him,  while 
I  rode  beside  him 
on  a  pony.  He 
was  dressed, as  was 
his  custom,  in  a 
black  suit,  a  swal- 
low-tail coat,  and 
tall  silk  hat.  As 
there  rode  on  the 
other  side  of  him 
at  first,  Mr.  Fox, 
the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  who  was 
not  more  than  five  feet  six  inches  in  height,  he  stood  out 
as  a  central  figure  of  the  group.  Of  course  the  staff  offi- 
cers and  orderly  were  behind. 

"When  we  got  to  the  lineof  intrenchment,  from  which 
the  line  of  rebel  pickets  was  not  more  than  three  hundred 
yards,  he  towered  high  above  the  works,  and  as  we  came 
to  the  several  encampments  the  boys  all  turned_out  and 
cheered  him  lustily.  Of  course  the  enemy's  attention 
was  wholly  directed  to  this  performance,  and  with  the 
glass  it  could  be  plainly  seen  that  the  eyes  of  their  cffi- 


Gen.  Geo.  B.  McClellan,  Commander  of  the  Army 

of  the  Potomac. 

Born  1826.      Died  1865. 


94  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

cers  were  fastened  upon  Lincoln;  and  a  personage  riding 
down  the  lines  cheered  by  the  soldiers  was  a  very  unusual 
thing,  so  that  the  enemy  must  have  known  that  he  was 
there. 

"Both  Mr.  Fox  and  myself  said  to  him,  "Let  us  not 
ride  on  the  side  next  to  the  enemy,  ]\Ir.  President. 
You  are  in  fair  rifle-shot  of  them,  and  they  may  open 
fire;  and  they  must  know  you,  being  the  only  person  not 
in  uniform,  and  the  cheering  of  the  troops  directs  their 
attention  to  you." 

'"Oh,  no,'  he  said  laughing,  'the  commander-in-chief 
of  the  army  must  not  show  an\-  cowardice  in  the  presence 
of  his  soldiers,  whatever  he  may  feel.' 

"And  he  insisted  upon  riding  the  whole  six  miles, which 
w^as  about  the  length  of  my  intrenchments,  in  that  po- 
sition, amusing  himself  at  intervals,  when  there  was 
nothing  more  attractive,  in  a  sort  of  competitive  exam- 
ination of  the  commanding-general  in  the  science  of  en- 
gineering. This  greatly  amused  my  engineer-in-chief, 
General  Weitzel,  who  rode  on  my  left,  and  who  was 
kindly  disposed  to  prompt  me  while  the  examination  was 
eoino-  on.  This  attracted  the  attention  of  Mr.  Lincoln, 
who  said,  'Hold  on,  Weitzel,  I  can't  beat  you,  but  I 
think  I  can  beat  Butler.' 

"I  eive  this  incident  to  show  his  utter  unconcern  under 
circumstances  of  very  great  peril,  which  kept  the  rest  of 
us  in  a  continued  and  quite  painful  anxiety.  When  we 
reached  the  left  of  the  line  we  turned  off  toward  the  hos- 
pitals, which  were  quite  extensive  and' kept  in  most  ad- 
mirable order  by  my  medical  director,  Surgeon  ]\IcCor- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  '  95 

mack.  The  President  passed  through  all  the  wards, 
stopping  and  speaking  very  kindly  to  some  of  the  poor 
fellows  as  they  lay  on  their  cots,  and  occasionally  admin- 
istering a  few  words  of  commendation  to  the  ward  mas- 
ter. Sometimes  when  reaching  a  patient  who  showed 
much  suffering  the  President's  eyes  would  glisten  with 
tears.  The  effect  of  his  presence  upon  these  sick  men 
was  wonderful,  and  his  visit  did  great  good,  for  there 
was  no  medicine  which  was  equal  to  the  cheerfulness 
which  his  visit  so  largely  inspired." 

ERECTION  OF  THE  LINCOLN  MONUMENT  AT  <5PRINGFIELD. 

The  movement  for  the  erection  of  a  national  Liucoln 
monument  was  begun  immediately  after  the  assassination 
of  President  Lincoln,  but  it  was  not  until  Oct.  15,  1874, 
that  the  Springfield  memorial  was  dedicated,  that  city 
being  chosen  because  it  was  Lincoln's  home  when  he 
was  elected  to  the  Presidency.  The  monument  stands 
in  the  middle  of  six  acres  of  high  ground  in  Oak  Ridge 
cemetery.  It  is  of  massive  proportions,  of  bronze  and 
granite,  and  was  designed  by  Larkin  G.  Mead,  Jr.,  an 
American  artist.  Thirty-one  artists  of  national  repute 
competed  for  the  design,  among  them  being  Leonard 
Volk,  Harriet  Hosmer,  and  Vinnie  Ream.  Some  of  the 
designs  submitted  would  have  cost  $5,000,000,  but  all 
were  adjudged  as  being  of  artistic  merit,  and  it  was  only 
after  considerable  difficulty  in  making  a  choice  that  the 
design  submitted  by  Larkin  G.  Mead  of  Brattleboro,  Vt., 
was  accepted.  Whatever  may  be  said  in  criticism,  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  the  Lincoln  monument  is  an  im- 


96  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

posing  structure.     It  consists  of  a  central  granite  shaft, 
or  obelisk,  rising  from  a  massive,  square  base  to  a  height 
of  ninety-eight  feet.     Allegorical  figures  in  bronze  crown 
tlie  four  corners  of  the  pedestal.     A  bronze  statue  of  Lin- 
coln standing  in  relief  against  the  shining  granite  forms 
the  central  figure  of  the  groups  of  statuary.     The  monu- 
ment  is    located    on   probably   the   highest   ground   in 
Springfield,    overlooking  the  capital  and  wide  stretches 
of  Illinois  prairie.     The  statue  of  Lincoln  had  been  com- 
mended as  one  of  the  most  natural  and  lifelike  represen- 
tations of  the  martyred  President.     He  is  represented  in 
the  attitude  of  making  a  public   address,   grasping  the 
emancipation  proclamation  in  one   hand.     He  stoops  a 
little,  he  is  angular,   his  cheeks  are  thin,  his  forehead 
deeply  wrinkled.      Old  lUinoisans  who  had  known  Lin- 
coln from  his  boyhood  pronounced  it  an  excellent  like- 
ness.    The  front  of  the  pedestal   on  which  the  statue 
rests,  bears  the  coat  of  arms  of  the  United  States  in 
bronze.     The  American  eagle  on  the  shield  is  represent- 
ed as-  having  broken  the  chain  of  slavery,   some  of  the 
links  being  grasped  in  his  talons,  and  the  rest  held  aloft 
in  his  beak.     An  olive  branch,  spurned,  is  thrust  aside  at 
his  feet. 

Memorial  hall,  in  the  base  of  the  monument,  is  filled 
with  various  Lincoln  relics  and  souvenirs.  One  of  the 
most  interesting  of  these  is  a  stone  from  the  wall  of  Ser- 
vius  Tullius,  presented  to  President  Lincoln  by  citizens 
of  Rome  in  1865.  It  is  a  large,  irregular  slab  of  sand- 
stone, on  which  is  carved  the  following  inscription  in 
Latin: 


^^^^^^^^^^5^'?^ 


The  Lincoln  Monument  at  Springfield,  111. 


98  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

"To  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  for  the  second  time 
of  the  American  republic,  citizens  of  Rome  present  this 
stone  from  the  walls  of  Servius  TuUius,  by  which  the 
memory  of  each  of  those  brave  asserters  of  liberty  may 
be  associated.     Anno,  1865." 

After  Lincoln's  death  this  stone  was  found  in  the  base- 
ment of  the  capital  at  Washington.  It  is  supposed  that 
the  President,  not  caring  to  have  a  furore  raised  over  the 
incident,  had  ordered  the  stone  stored  away  without  say- 
ing anything  about  receiving  it.  The  body  of  Lincoln 
was  removed  to  the  crypt  in  the  monument  from  a  tem- 
porary tomb  in  the  public  vault  Oct.  9,  1S74.  The  mar- 
ble sarcophagus  bears  the  inscription:  "With  malice 
toward  none,  with  charity  for  all. — Lincoln."  The 
bodies  of  ^Irs.  Lincoln  and  the  three  sons,  William,  Ed- 
ward, and  Thomas  (Thad),  have  also  been  placed  in  the 
monument.  Two  crypts  are  left  for  the  two  remaining 
members  of  the  family. 

The  national  Lincoln  monument  was  built  by  popular 
subscription.  Ex-Governor  Richard  J.  Oglesby  was  the 
president  of  the  association  which  had  the  matter  in 
charo-e.  Contributions  toward  the  monument  fund  came 
from  every  city  and  state  in  the  Union  and  from  every 
country  in  the  world. 

LINCOLN'S   SADNESS. 

The  Honorable  Schuyler  Colfax,  in  his  funeral  oration 
at  Chicago,  said  of  him: — 

"He  bore  the  nation's  perils,  and  trials,  and  sorrows, 
ever  on  his  mind.     You  know  him,  in  a  large  degree,  by 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  gg 

the  illustrative  stories  of  which  his  memory  and  his 
tongue  were  so  prolific,  using  them  to  point  a  moral,  or 
to  soften  discontent  at  his  decisions.  But  this  was  the 
mere  badinage  which  relieved  him  for  the  moment  from 
the  heavy  weight  of  public  duties  and  responsibilities  un- 
der which  he  often  wearied.  Those  whom  he  admitted 
to  his  confidence,  and  with  whom  he  conversed  of  his 
feelings,  knew  that  his  inner  life  was  checkered  with  the 
deepest  anxiety  and  most  discomforting  solicitude.  Elat- 
ed by  victories  for  the  cause  which  was  ever  in  his 
thoughts,  reverses  to  our  arms  cast  a  pall  of  depression 
over  him.  One  morning,  over  two  years  ago,  calling 
upon  him  on  business,  I  found  him  looking  more  than 
usually  pale  and  careworn,  and  inquired  the  reason.  He 
replied,  with  the  bad  news  he  had  received  at  a  late  hour 
the  previous  night,  wdiich  had  not  yet  been  communi- 
cated to  the  press — he  had  not  closed  his  eyes  or  break- 
fasted; and  with  an  expression  I  shall  never  forget,  he 
exclaimed,  'How  willingly  would  I  exchange  places  to- 
day with  the  soldier  who  sleeps  on  the  ground  in  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac!'  " 

HIS   RELIGIOUS   EXPERIENCE. 

There  is  a  very  natural  and  proper  desire,  at  this  time, 
to  know  something  of  the  religious  experience  of  the  late 
President.  Two  or  three  stories  have  been  published  in 
this  connection,  which  I  have  never  yet  been  able  to  trace 
to  a  reliable  source,  and  I  feel  impelled  to  say  here,  that 
I  believe  the  facts  in  the  case — if  there  were  such — have 
been   added  to,  or  unwarrantably    embellished.     Of  all 


loo  abraha:vi  lixcolx. 

men  in  the  world,  ^Ir.  Lincoln  was  the  most  unaffected 
and  truthful.  He  rarely  or  never  used  language  loosely 
or  carelessly,  or  for  the  sake  of  compliment.  He  was  the 
most  utterly  indifferent  to,  and  unconscious  of,  the  effect 
he  was  producing,  either  upon  official  representatives,  or 
the  common  people,  of  any  man  ever  in  public  position. 

Aside  from  emotional  expression,  I  believe  no  man 
had  a  more  abiding  sense  of  his  dependence  upon  God, 
or  faith  in  the  Divine  government,  and  in  the  power  and 
ultimate  triumph  of  Truth  and  Right  in  the  world.  In  the 
language  of  an  eminent  clergyman  of  this  city,  who  lately 
delivered  an  eloquent  discourse  upon  the  life  and  charac- 
ter of  the  departed  President,  ''It  is  not  necessary'  to  ap- 
peal to  apocr}-phal  stories,  in  circulation  in  the  newspa- 
pers— which  illustrate  as  much  the  assurance  of  his  visi- 
tors as  the  simplicity  of  his  faith— for  proof  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's Christian  character."  If  his  daily  life  and  various 
public  addresses  and  writings  do  not  show  this,  surely 
nothing  can  demonstrate  it. 

But  while  inclined,  as  I  have  said,  to  doubt  the  truth 
of  some  of  the  statements  published  on  this  subject,  I 
feel  at  liberty  to  relate  an  incident,  which  bears  upon  its 
face  unmistakable  evidence  of  truthfulness.  A  lady  in- 
terested in  the  work  of  the  Christian  Commission  had 
occasion,  in  the  prosecution  of  her  duties,  to  have  several 
inter^-iews  with  the  President  of  a  business  nature.  He 
was  much  impressed  with  the  devotion  and  earnestness 
of  purpose  she  manifested,  and  on  one  occasion,  after  she 
had  discharged  the  object  of  her  visit,  'he  said  to  her: 
"Mrs. ,  I  have  formed  a  very  high  opinion  of  your 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


lOI 


Christian  character,  and  now,  as  we  are  alone,  I  have  a 
mind  to  ask  you  to  give  me,  in  brief,  your  idea  of  what 
constitutes  a  true  religious  experience. "     The  lady  re- 


The  Old  State  House,  Sprinsrfield.    Completed  in  1S40. 

Afterwards  used  as  the  Sangamon  County  Court  House.  The  Capitol  was  located 

at  Sprinarfield  through  the  efforts  of  -The  Long  Nine."  so-called  because 

the  combined  height  of  these  men  was  54  feet.    Lincoln 

was  a  member  of  this  delegation. 

plied  at  some  length,  stating  that,  in  her  judgment,  it 
consisted  of  a  conviction  of  one's  own  sinfulness  and 
weakness,  and  personal  need  of  the  Saviour  for  strength 
and  support;  that  views  of  mere  doctrine  might  and 
would  differ,  but  when  one  was  really  brought  to   feel 


102  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

his  need  of  Divine  help,  and  to  seek  the  aid  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  for  strength  and  guidance,  it  was  satisfactory  evi- 
dence of  his  having  been  born  again.  This  was  the  sub- 
stance of  her  reply.  When  she  had  concluded,  j\Ir.  Lin- 
coln was  very  thoughtful  for  a  few  moments.  He  at 
length  said,  very  earnestly,  "If  what  you  have  told  me 
is  really  a  correct  view  of  this  great  subject,  I  think  I 
can  say  with  sincerity,  that  I  hope  I  am  a  Christian.  I 
had  lived,"  he  continued,  "until  my  boy  Willie  died, 
without  realizing  fully  these  things.  That  blow  over- 
whelmed me.  It  showed  me  my  weakness  as  I  had  never 
.  felt  it  before,  and  if  I  can  take  what  you  have  stated  as 
a  test^  I  think  I  can  safely  say  that  I  know  something  of 
that  change  of  which  you  speak;  and  I  will  further  add, 
that  it  has  been  my  intention  for  some  time,  at  a  suita- 
ble opportunity,  to  make  a  public  religious  profession!" 
— Frank  B.  Carpenter. 

LEE'S  SURRENDER. 
"On  the  day  of  the  receipt  of  the  capitulation  of  Lee, 
as  we  learn  from  a  friend  intimate  with  the  late  President 
Lincoln,  the  cabinet  meeting  was  held  an  hour  earlier 
than  usual.  Neither  the  President  nor  any  member  was 
able,  for  a  time,  to  give  utterance  to  his  feelings.  At  the 
suggestion  of  Mr.  Lincoln  all  dropped  on  their  knees, 
and  offered,  in  silence  and  in  tears,  their  humble  and 
heartfelt  acknowledgments  to  the  Almighty  for  the  tri- 
umph He  had  granted  to  the  National  cause." — ''The 
Western  Christiaii  Advocated 

LINCOLN    AND    HIS    ADVISERS. 

At  the  White  House  one  day  some  gentlemen  were 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  103 

present  from  the  West,  excited  and  troubled  about  the 
commissions  or  ommissions  of  the  Administration.  The 
President  heard  them  patiently,  and  then  replied: — "Gen- 
tlemen, suppose  all  the  property  you  were  Avorth  was  in 
gold,  and  you  had  put  it  in  the  hands  of  Blondin  to  carry 
across  the  Niagara  River  on  a  rope,  would  you  shake  the 
cable,  or  keep  shouting  out  to  him  — 'Blondin,  stand  up 
a  little  straighter—Blon4in,  stoop  a  little  more — go  a  lit- 
tle faster— lean  a  little  more  to  the  north — lean  a  little 
more  to  the  south?  No,  you  would  hold  your  breath  as 
well  as  your  tongue,  and  keep  your  hands  off  until  he 
was  safe  over.  The  government  officials  are  carrying  an 
immicnse  weight.  Untold  treasures  are  in  their  hands. 
They  are  doing  the  very  best  they  can.  Don't  badger 
them.     Keep  silence,  and  we'll  get  you  safe  across." 

HIS   FIRST   DOLLAR. 

On  one  occasion,  in  the  Executive  chamber,  there  were 
present  a  number  of  gentlemen,  among  them  Mr.  Sew- 
ard. 

A  point  in  the  conversation  suggesting  the  thought, 
Mr.  Lincoln  said:  "Seward,  you  never  heard,  did  you, 
how  I  earned  my  first  dollar?"  "No,"  said  Mr.  Seward. 
"Well,"  replied  he,  "I  was  about  eighteen  years  of  age. 
I  belonged,  you  know,  to  what  they  call  down  South,  the 
'scrubs;'  people  who  do  not  own  slaves  are  nobody  there. 
But  we  had  succeeded  in  raising  chiefly  by  my  labor,  suf- 
ficient produce,  as  I  thought,  to  justify  me  in  taking  it 
down  the  river  to  sell. 

"After  much  persuasion,  I  got  the  consent  of  mother  to 


I04 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


go,  and  constructed  a  little  flatboat,  large  enough  to  take 
a  barrel  or  two  of  things,  that  we  had  gathered,  with  my- 
self and  little  bundle,  down  to  New  Orleans.  A  steamer 
was  coming  down  the  river.  We  have,  you  know,  no 
wharves  on  the  Western  streams ;  and  the  custom  was,  if 

passengers  were  at  any  of  the 
landings,  for  them  to  go  out  in 
a  boat,  the  steamer  stopping 
and  taking^  them  on  board. 

"I  was  contemplating  my 
new  flatboat,  and  wondering 
whether  I  could  make  it  strong- 
er or  improve  it  in  any  partic- 
ular, when  two  men  came  down 
to  the  shore  in  carriages  with 
trunks,  and  looking  at  the  dif- 
ferent boats  singled  out  mine, 
and  asked,  'Who  owns  this?'  I 
answered,  somewhat  modestly, 
'I  do.'  'Will  you,'  said  one  of 
them,  'take  us  and  our  trunks  out  to  the  steamer?'  'Cer- 
tainly,'said  I.  I  was  very  glad  to  have  the  chance  of  earn- 
ing something.  I  siipposed  that  each  of  them  would  give 
me  two  or  three  bits.  The  trunks  were  put  on  my  flatboat, 
the  passengers  seated  themselves  on  the  trunks,  and  I 
sculled  them  out  to  the  steamboat. 

"They  got  on  board,  and  I  lifted  up  their  heavy  trunks, 
and  put  them  on  deck.  The  steamer  was  about  to  put 
on  steam  again,  when  I  called  out  that  they  had  forgot- 
ten to  pay  me.     Each  of  them  took  from  his  pocket  a 


Chas.  Sumner,  a  Supporter  of  Lin 
.    coin  during  liis  Administration. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  105 

silver  half-dollar,  and  threw  it  on  the  floor  of  my  boat.  I 
could  scarcely  believe  my  eyes  as  I  picked  up  the  money. 
Gentlemen,  you  may  think  it  was  a  very  little  thing, 
and  in  these  days  it  seems  to  me  a  trifle;  but  it  was  a 
most  important  incident  in  my  life.  I  could  scarcely 
credit  that  I,  a  poor  boy,  had  earned  a  dollar  in  less  than 
a  day — that  by  honest  work  I  had  earned  a  dollar.  The 
world  seemed  wider  and  fairer  before  me.  I  was  a  more 
hopeful  and  confident  being  from  that  time." 


SAYINGS  OF  LINCOLN. 

When  the  white  man  governs  himself,  that  is  self-gov- 
ernment; but  when  he  governs  himself,  and  also  governs 
another  man,  that  is  more  than  self-government — that  is 
despotism. 

Little  by  little,  but  steadily  as  man's  march  to  the 
grave,  we  have  been  giving  up  the  old  for  the  new  faith. 
Near  eighty  years  ago  we  began  by  declaring  that  all 
men  are  created  equal;  but  now  from  that  beginning  we 
have  run  down  to  the  other  declaration  that  for  so77ie 
men  to  enslave  others  is  a  "sacred  right  of  self-govern- 
ment. ' '  These  principles  cannot  stand  together.  They 
are  as  opposite  as  God  and  Mammon;  and  whoever  holds 
to  one  must  despise  the  other. 

So  I  say,  in  relation  to  the  principle  that  all  men  are 
created  equal,  let  it  be  as  nearly  reached  as  we  can.  If 
we  cannot  give  freedom  to  every  creature,  let  us  do  noth- 
ing that  will  impose  slavery  upon  any  other  creature. 

All. honor  to  Jefferson  — to  the  man  who,  in  the  con- 
crete pressure  of  a  struggle  for  national  independence  by 


io6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

a  single  people,  had  the  coolness,  forecast,  and  capacity  to 
introduce  into  a  merely  revolutionary  document  an  ab- 
stract truth,  applicable  to  all  men  and  all  times,  and  so 
to  embalm  it  there,  that  to-day  and  in  all  coming  days  it 
shall  be  a  rebuke  and  stumbling-block  to  the  harbingers 
of  reappearing  tyranny  and  oppression. 

Intelligence,  patriotism,  Christianity,  and  a  firm  re- 
liance on  Him  who  has  never  yet  forsaken  this  favored 
land,  are  still  competent  to  adjust,  in  tlie  best  way,  all 
our  present  difficulties. 

I  would  despise  myself  if  I  supposed  myself  ready  to 
deal  less  liberally  with  an  adversary-  than  I  would  be 
willino^  to  be  treated  mvself. 

In  a  storm  at  sea,  no  one  on  board  can  wish  the  ship 
to  sink;  and  yet,  not  imfrequently,  all  go  down  together, 
because  too  many  will  direct,  and  no  single  mind  can  be 
allowed  to  control. 

I  shall  try  to  correct  errors  when  shown  to  be  errors, 
and  I  shall  adopt  new  views  so  fast  as  they  shall  appear 
to  be  true  views. 

We  will  speak  for  freedom  and  against  slavery,  as  long 
as  the  Constitution  of  our  country  guarantees  free  speech, 
until  everyw^iere  on  this  wide  land,  the  sun  shall  shine 
and  the  rain  shall  fall  and  the  wind  blow  upon  no  man 
who  goes  forth  to  unrequited  toil. 

There  are  two  ways  of  establishing  a  proposition. 
One  is,  by  trying  to  demonstrate  it  upon  reason;  and  the 
other  is,  to  show  that  great  men  in  former  times  have 
thought  so  and  so,  and  thus  to  pass  it  by  the  weight  of 
pure  authority. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  107 

Neither  let  us  be  slandered  from  our  duty  by  false  ac- 
cusations against  us,  nor  frightened  from  it  by  menaces 
of  destruction  to  the  Government,  nor  of  dungeons  to 
ourselves.  Let  us  have  faith  that  right  makes  might, 
and  in  that  faith,  let  us,  to  the  end,  dare  to  do  our  duty, 
as  we  understand  it. 

I  hold  that  in  the  contemplation  of  universal  law  and 
of  the  Constitution,  the  Union  of  these  States  is  perpet- 
ual. Perpetuity  is  implied,  if  not  expressed,  in  the  fun- 
damental law  of  all  national  governments. 

If  the  Almighty  Ruler  of  nations,  with  his  eternal 
truth  and  justice,  be  on  your  side  of  the  North,  or  on 
your  side  of  the  South,  that  truth  and  that  justice  will 
surely  prevail  by  the  judgment  of  this  great  tribunal,  the 
American  people. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  LINCOLN'S  SPEECHES. 

FIRST   INAUGURAL   ADDRESS. 

"The  Union  is  much  older  than  the  Constitution.  It  was  formed, 
in  fact,  by  the  Articles  of  Association  in  1774.  It  was  matured  and 
and  continued  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  in  1776.  It  was 
further  matured,  and  the  faith  of  all  the  then  thirteen  States  expressly 
plighted  and  engaged  that  it  should  be  perpetual,  by  the  Articles  of 
Confederation,  in  1778;  and  finally,  in  1787,  one  of  the  declared  ob- 
jects for  ordaining  and  establishing  the  Constitution  was  to  form  a 
more  perfect  Union.  But  if  the  destruction  of  the  Union  by  one  or  by 
a  part  only  of  the  States  be  lawfully  possible,  the  Union  is  less  than 
before,  the  Constitution  having  lost  the  vital  element  of  perpetuity. 

"It  follows  from  these  views  that  no  State,  upon  its  own  mere  mo- 
tion, can  lawfully  get  out  of  the  Union;  that  resolves  and  ordinances 
to  that  effect,  are  legally  void;  and  that  acts  of  violence  within  any 
State  or  States  against  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  are  insurrec- 
tionary or  revolutionary,  according  to  circumstances 


io8  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

"Physically  speaking  we  cannot  separate;  we  cannot  remove  our 
respective  sections  from  each  other,  nor  build  an  impassable  wall  be- 
tween them.  A  husband  and  wife  may  be  divorced,  and  go  out  of  the 
presence  and  beyond  the  reach  of  each  other,  but  the  different  parts 
of  our  country  cannot  do  this.  They  cannot  but  remain  face  to  face; 
and  intercourse,  either,  amicable  or  hostile,  must  continue  between 
them.  Is  it  possible,  then,  to  make  thatintercourse  more  advantageous 
or  more  satisfactory  after  separation  than  before?  Can  aliens  make 
treaties  easier  than  friends  can  make  laws?  Can  treaties  be  more 
faithfullv  enforced  between  aliens  than  laws  can  among  friends?  .... 

"Intelligence,  patriotism,  Christianity,  and  a  firm  reliance  on  Him 
who  has  never  yet  forsaken  this  favored  land,  are  still  competent  to 
adjust,  in  the  best  way,  all  our  jiresent  difficulties. 

"In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow-countrymen,  and  not  in 
mine,  is  the  momentous  issue  of  civil  war.  The  Government  will  not 
assail  you.  \ 

"You  can  have  no  conflict  without  being  yourselves  the  aggress- 
ors. You  have  no  oath  registered  in  Heaven  to  destroy  the  Govern- 
ment; while  I  shall  have  the  most  solemn  one  to  'preserve,  protect, 
and  defend'  it. 

"I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends.  \Vc 
must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have  strained,  it  must 
not  break  our  bonds  of  affection. 

"The  mystic  cords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every  battle-field 
and  patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearthstone  all  over  this 
broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union,  when  again  touched, 
as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature." 

DEDICATORY    ADDRESS   AT   GETTVSBrKO. 

The  version  here  given  is  a  literal  transcript  of  the  speech  Mr. 
Lincoln  wrote  out  for  a  fair  in  Baltimore,  Nov.  19,  1863. 

"Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought  forth  on  this 
continent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in  Liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the 
proposition  that  all  men  are  created  equal.  Now  we  are  engaged  in 
a  great  civil  war,  ^testing  whether  that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  con- 
ceived and  so  dedicated,  can  long  endure.  We  are  met  on  a  great 
battle-field  of  that  war.  We  have  come  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  that 
field  as  the  final  resting-place  for  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  109 

that  nation  might  hve.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper  that  we 
should  do  this. 

"But  in  a  larger  sense  we  cannot  dedicate, — we  cannot  consecrate, 
— we  cannot  hallow — this  ground.  The  brave  men,  living  and  dead, 
who  struggled  here,  have  consecrated  it  far  above  our  poor  power  to 
add  or  detract.  The  world  will  little  note,  nor  long  remember  what 
we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget  what  they  did  here.  It  is  for  us, 
the  living,  rather  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the  unfinished  work  which 
they  who  have  fought  here  have  thus  far  so  nobly  advanced. 

"It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remain- 
ing before  us — that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  devo- 
tion to  the  cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last  full  measure  of  devo- 
tion— that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  the  dead  shall  not  have  died  in 
vain, — that  this  nation  under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom, 
— and  that  the  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people  for  the  peo- 
ple, shall  not  perish  from  the  earth." 

FAST   DAY   PROCLAMATION,   MARCH   30,    1863. 

"Whereas,  It  is  the  duty  of  nations,  as  well  as  of  men,  to  own 
their  dependence  upon  the  overruling  power  of  God,  to  confess  their 
sins  and  transgressions  in  humble  sorrow,  yet  with  assured  hope  that 
genuine  repentance  will  lead  to  mercy  and  pardon,  and  to  recognize 
the  sublime  truth  announced  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  proven  by 
all  history,  that  those  nations  only  are  blessed  whose  God  is  the  Lord. 

"And,  insomuch  as  we  know  that,  by  his  Divine  laws,  nations,  like 
individuals,  are  subjected  to  punishments  and  chastisements  in  this 
world,  may  we  not  justly  fear  that  the  awful  calamity  of  civil  war, 
which  now  desolates  the  land,  may  be  but  a  punishment  inflicted  upon 
us  for  our  presumptuous  sins,  to  the  needful  end  of  our  National  ref- 
ormation as  a  whole  people? 

"We  have  been  the  recipients  of  the  choicest  bounties  of  Heaven. 
We  have  been  preserved,  these  many  years,  in  peace  and  prosperitv. 
We  have  grown  in  numbers,  "^-ealth  and  power,  as  no  other  nation  has 
ever  grown.  But  we  have  forgotten  God.  We  have  forgotten  the 
gracious  hand  which  preserved  us  in  peace,  and  multiplied  and  en- 
riched and  strengthened  us;  and  we  have  vainly  imagined,  in  the  de- 
ceitfulness  of  our  hearts,  that  all  these  blessings  were  produced  by 
some  superior  wisdom  and  virtue  of  our  own." 


no 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


Gen.  W.  T.  Sherman. 
Born  1820.    Died  1891. 


Gen.  Philip  H.  Sheridan. 
Born  1831.    Died  1888. 


THE  STORY  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

FOR  A  SCHOOL  OR  CLUB  PROGRAMME. 

Kach  numbered  paragraph  is  to  be  given  to  a  pupil  or 
member  to  read,  or  to  recite,  in  a  clear,  distinct  tone. 

If  the  school  or  club  is  small,  each  person  may  take 
three  or  four  paragraphs,  but  should  not  be  required  to 
recite  them  in  succession. 

1.  Abraham   Lincoln   was   born   Feb.  I2,   1809,  in  the  county  of 
LaRue,  in  the  state  of  Kentucky, 

2.  He  first   attended  school   at  Little  Pidgeon  Creek  in  the  win- 
ter of  1819. 

3.  Three  or  four  years  later  he  attended  Crawford's  school  in 
the  same  locality. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  ill 

4.  In  1826,  he  received  his  last  schooling  under  the  tuition  of 
Mr.  Swaney.  To  reach  this  "institution  of  learning,"  he  walked  four 
miles  and  a  half  each  way. 

5.  Later,  as  a  "hired  boy,"  he  taught  himself  as  best  he  could 
with  his  rude  surroundings,  often  "ciphering"  on  a  wooden  fire  shovel 
or  anything  else  that  came  in  his  way. 

6.  His  reading  was  very  limited,  being  confined  to  two  or  three 
books,  but  fortunately  he  had  access  to  the  great  fountain  of  J3iblical 
literature. 

7.  Obtaining  access  to  the  "Revised  Statutes  of  Indiana,"  which 
could  not  be  loaned  from  the  constable's  office,  he  early  laid  the 
foundation  for  legal  study. 

8.  In  1831,  he  went  to  New  Orleans  on  a  flat-boatf  with  a  little 
cargo  of  pork,  hogs  and  corn.  It  was  here  that  he  first  saw  some  of 
the  abominations  of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade.  The  workings  of 
the  svstem  greatly  depressed  him,  and  drew  from  him  the  emphatic 
and  almost  prophetic  exclamation,  "If  I  ever  get  a  chance  to  hit  slav- 
ery, r II  hit  it  hard." 

9.  It  was  after  his  return  from  this  trip  that  he  found  an  English 
grammar,  and  mastered  it  by  the  light  of  pine  knots  during  the  long 
winter  evenings. 

10.  The  Black  Hawk  war  broke  out  in  1S32,  and  Lincoln  enlist- 
ed. Although  without  military .  experience,  his  personal  popularity 
made  him  the  captain  of  his  company. 

1 1.  After  the  war  was  over  he  became  a  candidate  for  the  State 
Legislature,  and  although  he  was  defeated, the  campaign  was  of  great 
service  to  him  in  the  way  of  experience. 

12.  He  began  the  study  of  law  with  borrowed  books,  and  put  his 
own  knowledge  into  practice  by  drawing  up  legal  papers,  and  also 
conducting  small  cases  without  remuneration. 

13.  Many  volumes  j)ertaining  to  the  sciences  now  found  their 
way  into  his  hands,  and  also  some  of  the  standard  works  of  literature. 

14..  He  then  sought  and  obtained  the  position  of  deputy  surveyor 
of  Sangamon  County,  and  in  this  work  he  became  an  expert.  He  was 
often  sought  for  as  a  referee  when  trouble  arose  concerning  boun- 
dary lines,  etc. 

15.  From  1833  to  1836  he  was  the  postmaster  of  New  Salem, 
having  received  the  appointment  as  a  Jackson  democrat. 

16.  It  was  during  this  time  that  he  again  betame  a  candidate  for 
the  Legislature.  His  campaign  was  personally  conducted,  and  this 
time  he  was  the  victorious  candidate. 

17.  It  was  at  this  session  of  the  legislature  that  he  met  his  great 
opponent,  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  In  time,  he  fully  accorded  him  the 
titie  of  "The  Little  Giant."" 

18.  In  August  of  1835,  Lincoln  met  with  a  terrible  loss,  being  no 


112  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

less  than  the  death  of  Anne  Rutledge,  the  beautiful  girl  to  whom  he 
was  betrothed.  Nearly  thirty  years  afterward  he  spoke  lovingly  of 
her  to  an  old  friend.  "The  death  of  this  fair  girl,"  said  Mr.  Plerndon, 
"shattered  Lincoln's  happiness.  He  threw  off  his  infinite  sorrow  only 
by  leaping  wildly  into  the  political  arena." 

19.  In  1836,  he  was  again  a  candidate  for  the  legislature.  He 
was  self-nominated,  for  this  was  before  the  days  of  caucuses  and  con- 
ventions. In  the  New  Salem  Journal  he  announced  his  platform, 
which  contained  a  suffrage  plank  to  the  effect  that  all  men  and 
women  who  either  bore  arms,or  paid  taxes,  should  be  allowed  to  vote. 

20.  Lincoln  was  elected  in  triumph.  Sangamon  County,  which 
had  usually  gone  Democratic,  voting  the  Whig  ticket  by  more  than 
four  hundred  majority. 

21.  In  1837,  Mr.  Lincoln  moved  to  Springfield,  where  his  active 
life  as  a  lawyer  began,  the  State  Capital  having  been  moved  about 
that  time  from  Vandalia. 

22.  In  November  of  1842,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Todd, 

23.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  first  elected  to  Congress  in  1846. 

24.  One  year  later  he  took  his  seat  as  a  member  of  the  Thirtieth 
Congress.  Other  notable  members  at  this  time  were  Ex-President 
John  Quincv  Adams,  Andrew  Johnson,  Alex.  H.  Stephens,  besides 
Robert  Toombs,  Robert  B.  Rhett,  and  others.  In  the  Senate  were 
Daniel  Webster,  Simon  Cameron,  Lewis  Cass,  John  C.  Calhoun  and 
Jefferson  Davis. 

25.  At  the  close  of  his  Congressional  services  in  1849,  ^I''-  Lin- 
coln returned  to  Springfield  and  resumed  the  practice  of  law,  al- 
though his  fees  were  considered  by  his  legal  brethren  "ridiculously 
small." 

26.  During  the  contest  in  Kansas,  in  1855,  Lincoln's  views  on 
the  subject  of  slavery  were  fully  expressed  in  a  radical  letter  to  Mr. 
Speed. 

27.  In  1858,  Lincoln  held  his  notable  debates  with  Stephen  A. 
Douglas. 

28.  In  i860,  Abraham  Lincoln  received  the  nomination  of  the  Re- 
publican party  for  the  presidency,  Stephen  A.  Douglas  was  the  nom- 
inee of  the  Democratic  party  and  these  two  prominent  men  were 
again  rivals. 

2g.  Threatening  times  succeeded  his  election  with  the  whole 
country  aroused  by  threats  of  secession. 

30.  In  March  of  1861,  he  was  inaugurated  amidst  the  most  om- 
inous conditions  that  a  new  president  was  ever  called  upon  to  face. 

31.  He  delivered  an  inaugural  address  which  for  wisdom,  and 
consistency  has  never  been  surpassed. 

32.  Following  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter,  Mr.  Lincoln  issued  on  the 
15th  of  April  a  call  for  75000  volunteers.  ( 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


113 


33.  Four  days  later  he  issued  a  proclamation  for  the  blockade 
of  Southern  ports. 

34.  In  1862,  he  met  with  the  terrible  loss  by  death  of  his  son  Wil- 
lie. In  the  midst  of  this  g'reat  trial  his  thoughts  reverted  to  his  own 
mother  whom  he  lost  when  a  child,  "I  remember  her  prayers,"  he  said 
"they  have  always  followed  me — they  have  clung  to  me  all  my  life." 

35.  During  the  long  war  he 
was  everywhere  busy  doing  ev- 
erything possible  for  the  com- 
fort of  the  soldiers,  especially 
the  sick   and  wounded. 

36.  On  Jan.  ist,  1863,  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  was 
issued. 

37.  Following  logically  the 
policy  of  the  Emancipation  Act, 
he  began  the  experiment  of  in- 
troducing colored  troops  into 
the  armies  of  the  L'nited  States. 

38.  In  December  of  1863, 
he  made  General  Grant  the 
commander-in-chief  of  all  the 
Union  armies. 

30.  In  1864,  Abraham  Lin- 
coln was  again  elected  president 
of  the  United  States. 

40.  About  the  middle  of  August  1864,  an  attempt  was  made  upon 
Lincoln's  life  one  evening  as  he  was  riding  back  from  the  Soldier's 
Home.  The  bullet  of  the  would-be  assassin  passed  through  the  silk 
hat  which  the  president  wore,  but  at  his  request  the  matter  was  kept 
very  quiet. 

41.  Early  in  December  he  submitted  to  Congress  his  fourth  an- 
nual message,  and  this  was  followed  by  the  i)assage  of  the  Constitu- 
tional Amendment  forever  prohibiting  slavery  in  the  territory  of  the 
United  States. 

42.  On  March  4th,  1865,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  again  inaugurated  as 
President  of  the  United  States. 

43.  The  great  rebellion  was  brought  to  a  successful  close  with 
great  rejoicing  over  General  Lee's  surrender. 

44.  On  the  afternoon  before  his  death  he  signed  a  pardon  for  a 
soldier  who  was  under  a  death  sentence.  This  act  of  mercy  was  his 
last  official  order. 

45.  On  the  14th  of  April  he  fell  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin  and 
the  nation  was  in  mourning. 


Gen.  U.  S,  Grant. 
Born  1822.      Died  1885. 


"4  ABRAHAM  LIXCOLX. 

PROGRAMME  FOR  A  LINCOLN  ENTERTAINMENT. 

1.  Music— "The  Red,  White  and  Blue." 

2.  Recitation— Mr.  Lincoln's  favorite  poem,  "( )h  whv  should  the 
Spirit  of  Mortal  be  Proud?" 

3.  Essay— Early  Life  of  Lincoln  and  the  books  that  he  read. 

4.  Recitation— Extracts  from  first  Inaugural  Address. 

5.  Dramatic  Scene— Uncle  Sam  and  Miss  Cf>lumbia  receiving 
the  Presidents.  (A  boy  dressed  as  l^ncle  Sam  and  a  girl  as  Col- 
umbia, should  stand  on  the  platform  receiving  the  Presidents  as  thev 
arrive,  dressed  in  the  costume  of  their  period";  Washington  being  the 
first.  They  may  be  introduced  bv  some  one  representing  a  hero  of 
the  War  of  the  Rebellion.) 

6.  Recitation — Bryant's  Abraham  Lincoln. 

7.  Music— "We  are  Coming  Father  Abraham,  Three  Hundred 
Thousand  Strong." 

ALTERNATE    PROGRA.MME. 

1.  Music— "Trariip,  Tramp,  the  lioys  are  Marching." 

2.  Recitation — Lincoln's  Address  at  Gettysburg. 

3.  Anecdotes  of  Lincoln. 

'M-  Music— "Marching  Through  Georgia." 

5.  Recitation— Lowell's  Commemorative  Ode. 

6.  Music— "John  Brown's  Bodv." 

7.  Tableau — Lincoln  Freeing  the  Slave. 

8.  Music— "Hail  Columbia." 


QUESTIONS  FOR  REVIEW. 

Where  and  when  teas  Ab?-aha)n  Lincoln  born  ?  What  can  you  say 
of  his  own  mo /her?  What  can  von  say  of  his  step-mother.^  What 
sort  of  a  man  was  his  father?  What  were  the  early  educational  ad- 
vantages of  Abraham  Lincoln?  Describe  his  early  home?  What 
books  furnished  his  early  reading?  From  whence  did  he  derive  hi<i 
first  knowledge  of  law?  What  can  you  say  of  his  boyish  character? 
LLow  did  he  earn  his  first  dollar?  J!  'hat  was  his  first  business  -r'en- 
ture?  ]Vhat  was  his  experience  in  the  Black  Hawk  Jl'ar?  J  That 
can  you  say  of  his  frst  political  work?  Il'hen  and  where  was  he  a 
postmaster?  Describe  his  frst political  canvass?  Describe  his  per- 
sonal appearance? 

Describe  his  second  political  campaign  ?  11  'hen  and  where  did  he 
first  meet  Stephen  A.  Douglas?  What  can  you  say  of  his  relation  to 
national  politics  in  connection  with  the  legislature  of  i8j6-j-j? 

What  were  his  early  views  on  the  subfect  of  slavery  ?  What  can  say 
of  Elijah  P,  Lovejoy?     What  relation  did  Littcoln  sustain  to  the  cam- 


ABRAHAM  LINXOLN.  ns 


paign  of  184^  ?  1 1  liat  can  you  say  of  the  J I  'ilmof  Pro7iho  ?  I  V/iat  did 
Caton  say  of  Lincoln?  iVhat  can  you  say  of  Lincoln  s  eulogy  upon 
Henry  Clay? 

Describe  I  lie  long  rii'alry  heiivcen  Douglas  and  Lincoln  ?  Des- 
cribe his  relation  with  the  republican  convention  of  Illinois  in  /SjS  ? 
Describe  his  address  at  Cooper  Institute  in  Feb.  of  1S60  ?  Describe  his 
first  nomination  for  the  presidency?  Give  a  synopsis  of  his  last  far e- 
ivell  to  citizens  of  Springfield?  Give  an  account  of  his  first  in- 
augural? Recite  briefly  the  principal  ei'cnts  connected  7vifh  his  first 
tern/?  Give  a  synopsis  of  his  second  inaugural  address?  Give  a 
b-rief  synopsis  of  his  address  at  Gettysburg  ? 

Describe  his  character  and  also  his  personal  appearance  uliile  he 
was  p7'esident?  In  what  way  did  he  usually  exercise  executive,  clem- 
ency ?  Mention  a  few  instances  of  this  ?  What  was  his  last  official  act? 
When  and  how  did  he  die  ?  J  i  hat  can  you  say  of  the  national  grief? 
Describe  some  of  the  scenes  connected  with  the  passing  of  his  body  from 
the  Capital  to  the  tomb  ? 

In  reviewing  his  career  what  do  you  consider  the  most  important 
of  his  official  acts?  What  is  the  general  verdict  of  history  upon  the 
character  of  the  man? 

SUBJECTS  FOR  SPECIAL  STUDY 

1.  The  A'cbraslra  Co>itrovcrsy. 

2.  The  humor  of  Lincoln. 
The  eloquence  of  Lincoln. 

/.  Contrast  bet7i<een  Douglas  and  Lincoln. 

J.  The  Emancipation  T/oclamation. 

6.  Lincoln  and  Seward. 

7.  Lincoln  and  Horace  Greeley. 
S.  IJncoln  and  Stanton. 
Q.  Lincoln  as  a  Statesman. 


,j 


CHRONOLOGICAL  EVENTS  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  LINCOLN. 

1800.  Born  in  LaRue  County,  Kentucky,  Feb.  12.  i 

1816.  Moved  with  his  parents  to  Indiana. 

1830.  Moved  with  his  father  and  step-mother  to  Macon  County,  111,. 

1831.  Constructed  a  flat-boat  and  made  a  successful  trip  to  New  Or- 

leans and  back. 

1832.  Served  as  clerk  in  the  store  of  Mr.Offutt.  Captain  of  \'oluntcers 

in  ]51ack  Hawk  War. 

1833.  Embarked  in  politics  and  studied  law.     Defeated  for  the  legis- 

lature.    Appointed  postmaster  at  New  Salem,  111. 

1834-1840.  Elected  successively  to  the  legislature.  Making  Spring- 
field liis  home. 

1842.  November,  married  Mary  Todd,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Robert 
S.  Todd  of  Lexingtt)n,  Ky. 

1846.     Elected  to  Congress  over  his  competitor,  Rev.  Peter  Cartwright. 


/ 


ii6  ABRAHAM  LINXOLN. 

1848.     Made  speeches  in  favor  of  General   Taylor  for  the  Presidencv. 

1854.  Made  earnest  speeches  in   favor  of  the  Anti-Nebraska  move- 

ment. 

1855.  Defeated  for  the  United  States  Senate  by   Lyman  Trumbull. 

Declined  the  offered  nomination  for  Governor  of  Illinois. 

1856.  Headed  the  Electoral  ticket  for  General  Fremont  as  President. 
1858.     Engaged  in  the  famous  debates  with  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 
i860.     Delivered  his  speech  in  Cooper  Institute,  New  York  City,  Feb. 

27.  Received  the  Republican  Nomination  for  the  Presidency, 
at  Chicago.  May.     Elected  to  the  Presidency  November  6. 

1861.  Delivered  his  wonderful  inauguration   address  at  Washington, 

D.  C,  March  4.  Called  for  75000  men  to  preserve  the  I'nion 
April  15.  Blockade  of  Southern  ports  declared  'April  ig. 
Called  for  42,034  Volunteers  May  3.  First  Message  to  Con- 
gress July  4.  y\ppointed  a  Fast  Day  on  August  12,  for  the  last 
Thursday  in  September. 

1862.  Sent  special  Message  to  Congress  for  the  gradual  abolishment 

of  slavery,  March  6.  Signed  bill  for  the  abolishing  of  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia  April  16.  Preliminary  Proclama- 
tion of  Emancipation  issued  September  22.  Annual  Message 
to  Congress  Dec.  i. 

1863.  Final  Proclamation  of  Emancipation  made  Jan.  i.     Sent  reply 

to  the  testimonial  of  Sympathy  and  Confidence  from  the  work- 
ingmen  of  Manchester,  England  Jan.  ig.  Inaugurated  the 
custom  of  setting  apart  a  comm.on  day  throughout  the  land 
for  thanksgiving — the  last  Thursday  in  November.  The  re- 
nowned dedicatory  address  at  the  consecration  of  the  Na- 
tional Cemetery  at  Gettysburg,  Nov.  ig.  Annual  Message 
to  Congress  Dec.  g. 

1864.  Re-elected  President,  Novembers. 

1865.  Delivered  second  inaugural  address,  one  of  the  greatest  state 

papers  that  history  has  preserved.  Entered  Richmond  with 
the  Union  Army,  April  11.  Assassinated  by  J.  Wilkes  Booth, 
April  14.     Buried  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  May  4. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

For  those  who  wish  to  read  more  extensively,  the  following  works 
are  especially  commended: 

"Life  of  Lincoln,"  by  Nicolay  &  Hav.     Ten  vols.     The  Century  Co. 
"Life  of  Lincoln,"  by  Herndon  &  Weik.     Two  vols.    Appleton  &  Co, 
"Life  of  Lincoln,"  by  Ward  H.  Lamon.     |.  R.  Osgood  &  Co. 
"Life  of  Lincoln,"  by  Isaac  N.  Arnold.     A.  C.  McClurg  &  Co. 
"Life  of  Lincoln,"  by  John  T.  Morse,  Jr.    H(Highton,  Mififlin  &  Co. 
"Life  on   the   Circuit  with  Lincoln,''  liy  Henry  C.  Whitney.    Estes  & 

Lauriet. 
"Life  of  Lincoln,"  bv  \Vm.  O.  Stoddard.     Fords,  Howard  &   Hulbert. 
"Life  of  Lincoln,"  by  J.  G.  Holland. 


/  * 


